


Kindred 15: The Scapegoat

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Series: Kindred Series [17]
Category: Hanson
Genre: Abduction, Blood and Torture, Brothers, Clones, Conspiracy, Execution, Gen, Genetics, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Medical Procedures, Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-07-15 02:38:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16053695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: Isaac has an idea that could change everyone's lives forever.





	1. Chapter 1

Taylor’s eyes followed the pacing soldier as he walked up and down the opposite lines of clones. They were all on their knees with their hands on their heads, and they’d been there for some time already. A soldier stood behind each of them at the ready.  
Taylor purposely kept his eyes open because the only thing he could hear when he closed them was the sound of those boots pacing. Again, the same sound from his nightmares. He still couldn’t tell which clone was which and they hadn’t had a chance to say anything yet but the one directly to his right seemed to be having a harder time than the rest. He was visibly shaking and watching the soldiers as well while the other six each held a stoic expression.   
There was one other clone he could tell apart. The one across from him and to the left. It looked like the teen was missing his right hand - the stub was covered in white bandages and the portion of the arm that Taylor could see was an angry red.  
Taylor was just working himself up to saying something again (the first attempt hadn’t ended well) when they finally heard the woman’s heels clicking along the concrete floor. Only Taylor and the clone to his right looked up as she came through the doors with a scowl on her face.   
“Кто это начал?” she demanded from the pacing guard.  
“Видео говорит, что старый запустил его,” he replied.  
The woman’s eyes went to Taylor and his heart started to race all over again.  
“Мы нуждаемся в нем в живых,” she went on before he could say anything in defence, “Кто еще?”  
“Эти двое,” the soldier indicated the two clones to Taylor’s right, including the shivering one.  
“We are _really_ sorry,” Taylor finally found his voice, pulling both their attention, “we aren’t going to do anything like it again, but you can’t really blame us for taking the chance, right?”  
The soldier lifted his rifle in preparation to hit Taylor in the head with it but the woman quickly intervened. Taylor flinched back regardless.  
“Нет. Мы не можем ничего сделать, чтобы вызвать инфекцию,” she was stern in telling the soldier off.  
Taylor had to frown, remembering all too well when she’d ordered that he and Carey both be beaten last time.  
She turned her attention to the clone beside him instead.  
“Это аномалия. Держите его,” she decided before moving on.  
She stared down at the last clone in their line for a silent moment.  
“Убейте этого.”  
“No, _no_!” the clone beside Taylor started to fret as the soldier passed him.  
“What are you-“ Taylor started to ask before the soldier very suddenly shot the last clone directly in the forehead.  
“WHOA, whoa, hey! What are you doing?!” Taylor reactively shot to his feet.  
A soldier came from behind to grab him by the shoulder and force him back to his knees.  
“This is not the first time we have had this kind of trouble, and I am certain it will not be the last,” the woman made her way back toward him, “these subjects already do not fear the consequences.”  
“They’re just _kids_!” Taylor again emphasized, “I would have done the same thing at their age!”  
“If that is all that you think they are, then you are a fool,” the woman scorned before turning away, “запереть их.”  
The surrounding soldiers each came forward to pull the clones to their feet and return them to their cells. Once Taylor was inside his with the door locked he quickly returned to the glass to watch where the others were going. He was desperately trying to work out who was who.

“I don’t think I can do this.”  
Zac looked across at where Isaac’s head was in his hand, his elbow leaning on the desk.  
“Do what exactly?” he had to clarify.  
“Tour. With Jackson,” Isaac was dismal, “it’s just too weird, and not only is it weird it’s outright disrespectful to Tay.”  
“I always thought of it more as just filling in until he gets back,” Zac lowered his voice, knowing that Jackson was still in the building somewhere, “but admittedly I was hoping it wasn’t going to take this long this time.”  
“So what do we do?” Isaac shrugged, “we have to cancel the tour, right?”  
His phone received a message and he fetched it from his pocket.  
“I hate it to say it, but… yeah,” Zac shrugged, “I don’t see any other option. And you were right, there’s nothing at all to say that Tay is definitely coming back this time.”  
“We gotta go,” Isaac jumped to his feet as soon as he saw the message.  
“What is it?” Zac’s brow furrowed, getting up as Isaac grabbed his jacket.  
“That was a text from Zoe. Mom’s home.”  
“What about Jackson?” Zac quickly grabbed his things from the desk.  
“What about him?” Isaac scowled, “it’s nothing to do with him.”  
He made for the door and headed straight for the front of the studio. Jackson must have heard the footsteps as he appeared just as Zac was following him through.  
“What’s going on?” he frowned, sensing the urgency.  
“Family stuff,” Zac turned to face him but continued walking backwards, “ah, take some time. We’ll pick up rehearsals in the morning.”  
“Okay…” Jackson didn’t lose the look, and Zac tried to ignore the stare as he quickly followed Isaac outside.  
He made sure the door was shut behind him before sharing a look with his brother as they got into their respective vehicles.

Zac beat his brother to the house and parked in the street while Isaac pulled into the driveway. By the time Zac got to the door Isaac was with him. Zoe beat them both.  
“Hey,” she greeted without a smile.  
“Is she okay?” Isaac asked first, Zac lowering his hand from where it had been ready to knock.  
“She’s fine,” Zoe stepped aside so they could pass her, “she’s in the kitchen.”  
Without any pleasantries Isaac led the way through. The moment he spotted their mother making herself a coffee he pulled her in for a hug.  
“Isaac,” she sighed into his shoulder, returning the gesture.  
“It’s good to see you,” he tried not to hug too tight just in case she were sore.  
He let go when he heard Zac come into the room behind him.   
“It’s good to see you too,” Diana looked between them before pulling Zac in for a hug too.  
“Are you allowed to talk about what happened?” Zac asked as he reciprocated, “you were gone for nearly a year.”  
“Maybe some other time,” she gave him a pat on the back before letting him go, “I promise it was not as bad as your mind is trying to tell you.”  
“I wish that were a relief,” Isaac admitted.  
“Go sit down, let me make these,” Zac offered, pulling out more coffee mugs.  
“Yeah we’ve got things to talk about that aren’t lab related too,” Isaac assured, “we need to talk about Taylor.”

“Are you guys okay?!”  
Taylor had waited until he’d heard voices again, quiet though they were. He could tell one of them was more dismal than the other and guessed it had to be the clone that had been at his right.  
The downside was that he was sure there were only two voices in the cell that had once housed three.  
“We’re okay,” a reply came after a tense moment.  
“Who was that? Who do we have left?” Taylor called back, already struggling to balance on the bed.  
“It was Kane,” the call made Taylor cringe, “I’m Leon, and Joseph is here.”  
Joseph was crying now, Taylor could hear it.  
“Guys I’m so sorry, I didn’t think in a million years that they would do that,” Taylor insisted, “I thought they needed us all alive.”  
“They’ve done it before,” Leon replied.  
“What do you mean?”  
“This isn’t the first time we’ve tried,” Leon admitted, “and it’s not the first time we’ve failed.”  
“Why didn’t you say something?” Taylor was horrified.  
“Because we needed to try. If anyone was coming to save us they would have done it by now.”  
“How long have you been here?” Taylor wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.  
“Nine months and three weeks.”  
“Holy shit,” Taylor cussed under his breath, stepping down from the bed.  
This had to be why they hadn’t had any trouble with the Russians since Jesse had gotten them home. They’d been too preoccupied with these guys.  
Until they’d needed their ‘biological backup’.  
He didn’t know how he would possibly stay sane after nine months in this cell.  
“Mr Hanson?”  
“It’s Taylor,” he corrected, getting onto the bed again, “who’s missing their hand?”  
“That’s Matthew.”  
“The one you guys said went into the far corridor?” he confirmed, the memory of the Korean girl still fresh in his mind.  
“Yes. His arm got infected and they weren’t expecting him to make it. We think your blood saved him.”  
Taylor considered that for a moment. If he hadn’t been taken, Matthew might be dead. But would Kane still be alive?  
“Thanks for telling me,” he said before stepping down from the bed again.  
He jolted when he looked toward the door and saw one of the guards staring in at him. Once he’d made eye contact the guard turned to walk away.  
“Great, so I’m officially never sleeping again,” Taylor muttered under his breath.

“I’ll get it, it’s probably her,” Carey insisted when the doorbell rang.  
“Be nice,” Emma reminded him as she had every other time before settling again with Max on the couch.  
Carey just rolled his eyes as he went to check the security screen. After making sure it was Sally he opened the door.  
“Hi,” she greeted, “we need to talk.”  
“Good news or bad news?” he stepped aside for her.  
“In your case, good. I think,” she came inside and he closed the door behind her, pausing to make sure security was working, “If all goes well I’ll be heading back to the lab in a few days.”  
“That’s great,” he tried not to sound too enthusiastic.  
She ignored him and made her way through to where Emma was, setting her folder full of paperwork on the kitchen counter.  
“Good afternoon,” she greeted with a nod.  
“Hi,” Emma replied, not offering anything else.  
“Where’s the other one?” Sally looked around.  
“Eleanor,” Carey pointedly said her name, “is taking her afternoon nap. She went down later than usual.”  
“That’s fine,” Sally waved off as she took a seat.  
“So what’s happening today?” Emma was looking over her shoulder while trying not to disturb Max, “why are you here?”  
“She’s finishing up,” Carey folded his arms, not bothering to take a seat with her.  
“Really?”  
“Sort of,” Sally looked between them, “there isn’t much else to do. I’ll take the child’s vitals and another DNA swab and DIGER should be satisfied until the child turns one.”  
“Maximus,” Carey corrected, “they have names.”  
“Of course,” she held back rolling her eyes.  
She set her handbag aside the folder and opened it to pull out her testing kit.  
“So we shouldn’t hear from anyone for what, eleven months?” Carey made sure.  
“If all goes well, that’s correct,” Sally put her gloves on before readying the DNA swab, “as far as the children are concerned anyway.”  
“What does that mean?” Carey frowned as she stood to make her way around to Emma.  
“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” she gave him a condescending look, “but they’ve finished collecting data from Diana Hanson and sent her on her way, so they’ll be focusing more now on yourself and Taylor to work out exactly how these children were possible. With Taylor unavailable…”  
“Will Care have to go in again?” Emma frowned as Sally took a quick swab from Max’s mouth.  
“I don’t know.”  
“I thought they took whatever they wanted while I was there in recovery,” Carey didn’t like the sound of it, “I did everything except the physicals, and they wanted to wait a couple of years until I was up to it.”  
“I would assume they’d want some more sperm samples at the very least.”  
Emma couldn’t help but smirk as Carey’s face went red.  
“That doesn’t sound time consuming at least,” Emma reasoned, “maybe we can actually get on with our lives for once.”  
“I wouldn’t speak too soon on that,” Carey muttered, finally taking a seat.  
Sally finished with her sample and quickly tested Max’s pulse against her watch before packing up her things and bringing them back to the table. She got everything together and slid the kit back into her bag.  
“Well,” she sighed, “this certainly wasn’t the worst assignment I’ve ever had, but I’m glad it’s over.”  
“You’re not the only one,” Carey stared her down.  
She gave him a side eye before turning her attention to Emma.  
“Good luck Mrs Miller,” she gave her a nod as she collected her things.  
“You too,” was all Emma offered in reply.  
Carey stood to see her out, following her to the door in silence. Sally stopped aside the security panel as he had to let her out, but she cleared her throat before he could enter the code.  
“Just in case this isn’t the last we see of each other,” she began apprehensively, “you know very well that I’ve never meant you harm. Any of you. If this animosity is purely because I couldn’t share my identity while I was with Colin-“  
“You were spying on us,” Carey scowled, “how am I supposed to react to that?”  
“It wasn’t easy,” she insisted, “you of all people know the kinds of things he put me through, and I guarantee what you know is only scratching the surface of what I had to do for that asshole.”  
Carey broke into a chuckle at that.  
“What?” she demanded with a frown.  
Carey rubbed his face, having to pull himself together before he could answer her.  
“I’m sorry, but your official stance is that I’m not even human and yet you want compassion from me?” he was incredulous.  
“That’s not what-“  
“Get out,” he scorned, entering the code and opening the door for her.  
She paused, huffed a little, and eventually stepped out. He made sure she made it through the gate before closing the door behind her and resetting the security.


	2. Chapter 2

Carey stopped to think for a while before returning to Max and Emma.  
“What happened?” she was looking over her shoulder as he came back into the room.  
“Nothing,” he insisted.  
He went back to sit at the table.  
“Then why the long face?”  
Carey quickly tried to change his expression but knew he’d been caught out.  
“You heard what she said about Di Hanson, right?” he checked.  
“That they were done with her, yeah.”  
“Do you think that means she’ll go back to Tulsa?”  
“Why wouldn’t she?”  
He shrugged, keeping his eyes down. Emma sat up a little using the movement to settle Max against her chest.  
“What are you thinking?” she kept her voice down, seeing that he’d already closed his eyes.  
“I don’t know,” Carey admitted, “I think I’ve got a lot to think about.”  
“Did you talk to her about seeing her again?”  
“We didn’t set a date,” he shook his head, “I just kinda figured it would happen naturally.”  
“Like it happened naturally with Taylor?” Emma scoffed, “if you want it to happen you’re going to have to make it happen, you know that.”  
“I know,” he agreed, “I’m just… this is different, and it would be different in Tulsa.”  
“Why? Because it’s their home turf?”  
“I’ve got a whole bunch of brothers and sisters I’ve never even met,” he admitted, unable to hide his nerves, “and I know that Di wants to see me again, but what about the rest of them? I mean do they even know about me? Besides Isaac and Taylor and Zac, obviously. It felt like I was there for ages before I went into rehab and I still never met any of them. I’m like the dark family secret or something.”  
“There’s only one way to find out,” Emma reasoned.  
“But do I want to?” he leant forward a little, “do I really want to open this can of worms?”  
“You did spend a great deal of time hating them,” Emma pointed out, “can you get over that?”  
“I didn’t know,” he defended, “I didn’t know the truth.”  
“And now you do. So what are you going to do about it?”  
Carey didn’t reply, struggling internally. He knew the curiosity alone would boil over eventually, but Tulsa wasn’t exactly the safest place in the world at the moment and he had more people to think about before himself now.  
“Care?” Emma prodded.  
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “like I said, I’ve got a lot to think about.”  
“Just don’t hurt yourself,” she frowned a moment before Max suddenly burped all over her.  
Carey immediately got up to grab a nearby towel.

“I know it’s hard,” Diana insisted, “but try not to think about it. You boys have a lot more to worry about right here in Tulsa. You just need to stay focused.”  
“Like you said, it’s hard,” Isaac agreed, “but it’s not just that. We can’t do this without Tay. We _shouldn’t_ do this without Tay.”  
“We appreciate Dad helping and everything but we’re just not getting along with Jackson,” Zac weighed in.  
“You do realize this isn’t about Taylor, or Jackson, right?” Diana set her mug down.  
“What do you mean?” Isaac frowned, “we don’t even know if Tay is coming back, why should we bother with the charade at all?”  
“It’s only to buy you time.”  
“For what?” Zac’s look mirrored his brother’s.  
“To decide what to do, one way or another. If you went ahead and cancelled the tour there would be chaos. This way you can take the next couple of months to decide whether you want to continue with or without him.”  
“Why would we want to do it without him?” Isaac was confused, “Jackson is a decent impersonator sure, but he’s not our brother. We either want to do this with Tay or not at all.”  
“I can echo that sentiment,” Zac agreed, “timeline aside, and not knowing whether he’s coming back aside, performing without Tay is wrong.”  
“Exactly. It’s been hard enough just doing these promotional sets, I cannot fathom doing a whole tour with Jackson.”  
“How long do you have until the tour starts?” Diana looked between them.  
“Next week,” Zac shot Isaac a glance, “we’ve been locked down in rehearsals and I don’t think it’ll be long before the band catch on that something’s wrong.”  
“The mood alone,” Isaac shrugged, “if we do this it’s not going to be good. I wouldn’t want Jackson interacting with the fans if we could help it.”  
“And we aren’t going to be able to help it,” Zac smirked.  
“It sounds like you don’t have a lot of time,” Diana calmly pointed out, “which, as I said, your father was trying to buy you.”  
Zac’s phone received a message and he winced before pulling it out, not wanting to get distracted.  
“I just can’t get past it being _wrong_ ,” Isaac emphasized.  
Zac’s phone went off a second time as he was checking the first message.  
“Someone’s popular,” Diana mused, pulling her mug back into her hands again.  
“The first one was Alex just checking in,” Zac was frowning as he read the second, “I promised I’d let him know when you got home.”  
“Alex Bell?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Did you meet him?” Isaac’s tone changed.  
“Briefly.”  
“The second one is from Nat, she wants to meet us at the studio tomorrow morning.”  
“What for?” Isaac frowned again, “she knows Jackson will be there.”  
“She didn’t say,” Zac quickly replied to Alex first.  
“Sounds like she might need somebody to talk to,” Diana suggested.  
“Can’t really blame her,” Isaac thought aloud.  
“We’ll have to do it before anyone else gets in,” Zac mumbled to himself, trying to work out a time they could all make.  
“I’m happy to come in early, I haven’t been sleeping much,” Isaac shrugged.  
“Me either.”  
“No matter what’s happening with Taylor, you boys need to take care of yourselves,” Diana warned, “you can’t take care of those kids of yours if you’re not looking after yourselves first.”  
“We’re fine,” Isaac assured, “it’s just taking its toll.”  
“Like it always does,” Zac wasn’t trying to discredit the feeling, but rather remind Isaac that Taylor had always come back before.  
“By the way,” Isaac changed the subject instead, “how long has Zoe known?”  
“We had a talk with her after we invited you and Nicole over for dinner to tell you.”  
“That long?!”

It wasn’t long after the lights came on the following morning that Taylor heard his door opening. He knew he hadn’t finished giving blood the day before and hadn’t been sure if they’d just leave him for the week or pick up where they’d left off.  
He pulled himself from the bed and went to put his hands against the wall before they could order him to. There were two soldiers this time, and the woman entered the cell behind them.  
“You were interrupted yesterday,” she confirmed his suspicions as he was roughly chained, “but the doctor forgot about the procedure you need. We will do that today.”  
“Sure,” he replied, wincing as the shackle on his right wrist locked tighter than usual.  
“But first you must be cleaned,” she insisted, stepping aside.  
He didn’t respond to that. He hadn’t been looking forward to this part.  
He saw the clones watching as he was taken from the cell and led toward the room where they took his blood. Instead of going into it they went two doors down to a wash room that looked eerily similar to the last one he’d been taken to. He wondered if he’d be able to keep his hair this time as they brought out the scissors to cut off his clothes. They took his belt first soon followed by his socks (his boots had been left in the cell) before cutting down one side of his jeans and down the back of his shirt.  
The shower was warmer than last time and seemed to last longer. One of the two soldiers stood aside with a baton at the ready as the other unlocked the chains to dry and dress him again. This time instead of a thin cloth gown he was dressed in a white shirt and loose white track pants.  
They didn’t cut his hair. He was taken straight into the bloodwork room and strapped into the chair again, this time making his right arm extra secure.  
The doctor had already been preparing the room and the woman appeared again just as his ankles were finished being locked in.  
“Я думаю, мы должны положить его в шею,” the doctor said to her in a tone that made Taylor pay attention.  
“Нет, мы не можем рисковать ущербом,” she was stern.  
“Everything okay?” Taylor’s eyes darted between them.  
His arm was starting to go numb purely from how tight they’d strapped it down. It didn’t look like they were going to offer him anything for the pain so he wasn’t sure whether to draw attention to it or not.  
“It’s fine,” the woman assured with a forced smile before the soldiers finally stood back.  
One took up post at the door while the other stood at Taylor’s other side. The doctor waited until they were in position before beginning his work.  
Taylor’s suspicions were confirmed when as soon as the area was disinfected they cut into his arm. He had to turn his head away. While he didn’t usually watch them taking the blood he knew this was going to look a lot worse. Thankfully all he felt was a sharp pain as they worked and it didn’t seem to get any worse than the first cut.  
When it was over he was afraid to look. He could feel them cleaning around it before carefully bandaging the area. Once both the doctor and the woman were satisfied with the work they tested the apparatus and Taylor could right away feel the effects of the blood loss. He could already tell this was going to be a much faster process.  
“Please do not touch it,” the woman came to his side once the doctor was done, “it is very fragile.”  
Taylor grunted in the affirmative, already unable to focus under the vertigo.


	3. Chapter 3

Taylor’s eyes were on the door. He didn’t know how long he’d been there, but he’d heard all sorts of sounds coming from the corridor outside. The last soldier that had been standing guard over him as he recovered from the blood loss had left the room a long time before.   
He wondered if they were giving him time to get used to the thing in his arm before releasing him so that he’d be less likely to touch it. It looked like a piece of clear hosing sitting inside white plastic that disappeared under the white bandage and into his arm somehow. But at the base of the hosing he could see the red that had to be his blood ready and willing to come up and out.  
It took some time but the regular nausea began to dissipate before the vertigo did. Still, no one returned to the room. But the vertigo eventually started to tone down and he was beginning to wonder if he’d be left there for the night when the door finally opened again.  
An older man entered. Slightly hunched over and wearing an older version of the lab coats, his grey hair slicked back and a block of wood in his hands. He offered Taylor a short smile before turning to close the door behind himself.  
“What’s going on?” Taylor’s brow furrowed, his eyes not leaving the older doctor and hoping he spoke English, “why am I still here?”  
“All in good time,” the doctor spoke perfect English despite his thick accent.  
He made his way to the side of the bed before doing a double take.   
“Damien?” he tried to confirm with honest curiosity.  
“No,” Taylor had been caught off guard, “did you know him?”  
“What is your name?” the man asked instead.  
“Taylor.”  
He nodded to himself, taking a moment to commit it to memory.  
“Taylor,” he tested the name, “I have spent some time with Damien in the past.”  
“Who are you?” Taylor asked apprehensively as he made his way around to the other end of the chair.  
“My name is Doctor Ivanovich,” he introduced himself as he set the block of wood between Taylor’s feet, “I am employed by the research division of the Russian military, where you currently reside. However in a past life I often interrogated prisoners of war from the front lines of Stalingrad.”  
Taylor felt a chill creep down his spine. This man wasn’t here for no reason. They had to want something from him.  
“What do you want from me?” he tried to shift in the chair but the restraints hadn’t loosened at all, “they haven’t asked for anything.”  
“I need nothing from you,” the man assured before the door opened a second time.  
The woman appeared, looking relieved that the doctor was already here.  
“Помните, что ничто не может вызвать инфекцию,” she said to him.  
“I know,” he assured in English, not moving from the end of the chair.  
“Why is he here?” Taylor’s eyes went to her instead, “why do you need an interrogator? What do you want from me?”  
“What we need from you is co-operation,” the woman addressed him directly, “you have shown that this is something you lack.”  
“Because of last night?” Taylor’s brow furrowed again, “I already said it won’t happen again. I didn’t know you were hurting them. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known!”  
“So you say,” the woman mused, “but we cannot take your word.”  
“What does that mean?” his eyes darted between them again as the doctor retrieved something from his coat pocket, “how can I prove it to you? I can’t give you anything but my word.”  
“You can, and you will,” the woman assured before addressing the doctor again, “быть быстрым.”  
“How?” Taylor’s heart was racing yet again, “how can I-“  
He hadn’t been paying attention to what the doctor was doing which meant the pain took him by surprise. The man had used some kind of mallet to strike his left ankle against the wooden block, cleanly breaking the bone.  
“Holy _shit_!” he cussed, along with a few other choice words.  
“Защитите зубы,” the woman muttered, “он может сломать их.”  
“Here,” the doctor handed her something, “please use English, out of respect for the patient.”  
Taylor’s eyes were squeezed shut as he writhed under the restraints. The veins in his neck stood out in stark contrast under the medical lighting.  
When he felt her coming toward him again his eyes shot open. There was something yellow in her hand.  
“Open your mouth,” she instructed.  
“Why?” he demanded through grit teeth as he struggled to catch his breath, “what are you going to do?!”  
“I don’t want you to break your teeth. It may cause an infection.”  
“What?!” Taylor was incredulous, “what else are you going to-“  
She cut him off as she took a strong hold of his jaw. What felt like a silicon mouth guard went in and seemed to mould to his teeth. He could thankfully breathe through it but he couldn’t ask any more questions.  
His eyes went to the doctor just in time to see him raise the mallet again and strike his other ankle. This time his yells were muffled by the gag, but his jaw clenched so hard he was paradoxically glad it was there. Strained tears filled his eyes this time as he instantly started thinking of the repercussions; the thoughts of how he was even supposed to walk again an attempt to distract himself from the pain.  
“Is that all?” the woman asked, making Taylor open his eyes again.  
“I will speak with him if you have business to tend to.”  
“спасибо.”  
Taylor grunted through the gag as she left the room. He was trying to keep his legs as still as possible, but his knuckles were white with the effort and his forehead was covered in sweat.   
The doctor came to his side and stared down at him for a moment as he continued to struggle for air. Taylor tried not to panic as the man reached for his face, forcing himself to take deeper breaths when he simply used a handkerchief to pat the sweat away. The doctor’s calmness was a stark contrast to Taylor’s desperate panting.  
“You are doing very well,” the doctor spoke softly but clearly, “this is a very intimate experience, wouldn’t you agree? I got to know our friend Damien very well in the short time we spent together, and I never forget my children.”  
He set the handkerchief aside and reached for the mouth guard, pulling it free. He stared down into Taylor's eyes again.  
“Tell me how you feel right now."

Isaac was just arriving at the studio when he heard another car pull in behind him. He couldn’t stop himself getting hopeful when he saw that it was Taylor’s car, but he was soon brought back to Earth when he saw Natalie getting out of it instead of his brother. He unlocked the studio door and waited for her to catch up.  
“Morning,” she greeted without a smile.  
“Morning,” he returned as she stepped past.  
He quickly made sure no one else was coming before closing the door behind them.   
Without saying anything else, Natalie made her way through to find Zac. His blue truck had been outside so she knew he was already here. She eventually found him on the sound booth couch playing on his iPad.  
“Hey,” he greeted, quickly getting to his feet.  
“Morning,” she remained stoic until Isaac followed her in.  
“We’re the only ones here,” he assured, locking eyes with Zac, “so let’s talk freely while we still can.”  
“Everything okay?” Zac’s eyes went to Natalie.  
“Of course it’s not okay,” she scorned, her voice already with a quiver to it, “we barely made it through the last time this happened. What if he doesn’t come back this time?!”  
“We’ve been thinking the same thing,” Zac set his iPad down and leant back against the desk.  
“Really?” Natalie frowned, “because that’s not what I’m seeing in the news.”  
“It’s was Dad’s idea,” Isaac quickly jumped in to defend, “we don’t know where he pulled this guy from. He was hoping Taylor would be back by now and honestly we were hoping that too.”  
“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was. What if he doesn’t come back?!”  
“We’ve been talking,” Zac eyed his brother, “and we want to cancel the tour, we just weren’t sure how to go about it.”  
“Right. If everyone’s seeing ‘Taylor’ walking around fine, not to mention us, a lot of questions are going to be asked,” Isaac agreed.  
“Doesn’t it start next week?” Natalie folded her arms.  
“Technically yeah,” Zac admitted, “but we only decided for sure last night.”  
“I tried to sleep on it and come up with something but I didn’t sleep,” Isaac admitted.  
“I was up half the night with Abe so I didn’t really get a chance,” Zac shrugged himself, “but we need to come up with something, and fast.”  
“What’s your Dad saying?” Natalie tried to bring the subject back to Taylor, “what are they thinking? How long is this going to take?”  
“We don’t know,” Isaac shook his head, “he’s not being very forthcoming.”  
“I’m hearing a few things from Alex, he checks in every other day,” Zac folded his arms as well, “I didn’t really want to say anything but he thinks Dad’s been at the Pentagon.”  
“The what?”  
“The Pentagon?” Natalie’s eyes widened, “why?”  
“Why do you think?” Zac looked between them, “this is some serious shit. I mean I never really thought about it before but these labs are supposed to be high military clearance, right? We aren’t even supposed to know where they are. It wasn’t a good time when I went to the one in Dallas. I nearly thought they were going to lock me up for just driving in.”  
“I know you’re right but it’s still hard to get my head around,” Isaac admitted, “and it makes it harder to work out just what kind of impact Jesse had on them too. He took on these guys and _won_ singlehandedly. What kind of skill does that take?”  
“Makes you wonder what kind of guy Blake really is,” Zac agreed.  
“Who’s Blake?” Natalie was lost, “what does this have to do with getting Taylor back?”  
“Blake is supposedly a childhood friend of Jesse’s who joined the army with him back in the day,” Isaac explained, “we met him the night Tay was taken. He was trying to protect him.”  
“As far as getting Tay back, it’s just an appreciation of the scale of operation we’re dealing with,” Zac’s fatigue was showing in his eyes, “this isn’t your friendly neighborhood asshole holding him in a basement somewhere - this could involve entire armies. There’s a reason we’re being left in the dark.”  
An awkward silence followed.  
“Kinda makes you wonder if they’ll even let us cancel the tour,” Zac added after a solemn moment.  
“What if we forced them to?” Isaac was scratching his chin.  
“How?” Zac frowned, “what could we possibly throw at them?”  
“I don’t want to say it out loud just in case it’s the worst idea I’ve ever had in my life,” Isaac smirked a little.  
“Will it help get Taylor back?” Natalie asked.  
“No,” Isaac was honest, “but it will cause enough chaos to cancel the tour and we might get rid of Jackson for a while.”  
“Sounds good so far,” Zac stood up.  
“Okay but when I say chaos, I mean chaos. We’re going to have our hands full.”  
“Just say it!” Natalie scorned.  
“No. I need to make a call first,” he insisted, “and I need to take at least an hour to make sure I’m not jumping into something without thinking it through. This is going to be big.”  
“You can’t just say that and not expect us to try and figure out what you’re doing,” Zac pointed out.  
“So let’s change the subject,” Isaac suggested, “Natalie called us here and we’ve done nothing but talk over her.”  
“It’s okay,” she shrugged, “it’s nice to feel included for once.”  
“Sorry about that,” Zac winced, “we just weren’t sure where you stood with the whole Jackson thing. He’s obviously trying to keep his distance from you guys and we just figured you’d want some space to deal with everything.”  
“Space is the last thing I need right now. There’s no one outside of the family that I can even talk to about this. We’ve had to keep friends away in case they suspect anything. The kids are scratching to get out of the house but what if someone comes for them?”  
“Why would they?” Isaac frowned.  
“The labs said they wanted Ezra and Penny once they hit puberty,” Natalie looked him in the eye, her voice shaking again, “and guess what? We’re already there. It’s only a matter of time now. They’re just going to take my whole family and there’s nothing I can do about it. Tay was _so_ scared.”  
Zac hung his head, racing for words to console her. He couldn’t think of any.  
“And I’m pregnant.”  
“What?” Isaac froze on the spot as Zac’s head shot up again.  
“I’m pregnant,” she repeated in a smaller voice, “and I can’t do this without him.”  
“Did he know?” Zac asked, “you know, before…?”  
Natalie shook her head.  
“Shit,” Isaac rubbed his face.  
“So if there’s anything you guys can think of that would help to get him back…” she sounded as hopeless as she felt, “we really, really need it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Can I borrow your phone?” Isaac asked Zac some time later.  
“…Why?” Zac was immediately suspicious.  
“Because you have a number that I don’t, and like I said before, I need to make a call.”  
Zac looked over his shoulder to where Jackson and Andrew were discussing a bass part. So far none of the band had mentioned any difference in ‘Taylor’ and to say the brothers were surprised would be an understatement.  
With a haughty look Zac relinquished his phone.  
“Don’t be long,” he insisted.  
“What, you don’t trust me?” Isaac smirked, taking it into the sound booth and closing the door so no one would follow.  
He searched through the phone and kept one eye on Jackson as he dialled.  
“Hey Zac, I was going to message you later to see if-“  
“Close but not quite, this is Isaac,” he couldn’t help but smile.  
“Oh. Hi! Hello. Isaac,” Alex stuttered a moment, “what can- what can I do for you? Wait, is Zac okay?”  
“Zac’s fine, I’m looking at him through the window right now. I was hoping you could help me with something kinda small actually.”  
“Sure. Anything. I mean not anything but anything I can help you with I-“  
“You have Carey’s number, right?” Isaac cut in.  
“Of course.”  
“Do you have mine?”  
“I uh… maybe. I might have… you know, found it. Somehow.”  
“Could you send me Carey’s number? And one to contact you on too, if you don’t mind.”  
“Of course. It’s done.”  
Isaac paused before retrieving his phone. He already had the message.  
“Ah… thanks!”  
“Anything else I can do for you Isaac?”  
“Not unless you have an update on Taylor for us.”  
“Um. Sorry. I mean I could try and contact your Dad at the number he’s been calling me from but it’s a landline at a hotel in Washington and I don’t think he spends much time there basically except to call me.”  
“That’s okay Alex, I appreciate you keeping Zac in the loop.”  
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I can’t do more.”  
“Don’t ever apologize for that,” Isaac insisted, “we know you’re doing your best and that you’re awesome at what you do. We wouldn’t want anyone else on the case.”  
“Um. Thank you.”  
“You’re welcome, but I mean it. Keep in touch.”  
“I’ve always thought your voice was better.”  
Isaac paused, having been about to hang up.  
“Sorry?”  
“In the band. I’ve always thought your voice was the best. I just wanted to say.”  
“Ah, thanks. Thank you.”  
“Bye.”  
“Goodbye Alex.”  
Isaac hung up with a small smile before looking up to the window again. Jackson was standing there with his arms out silently demanding to know what was taking so long.

Taylor cried out as he hit the bed before quickly sitting up and trying to straighten his legs. The soldiers that had carried him back into the cell were already leaving. He desperately needed to use the bathroom but he had to get his bearings first.  
His ankles hadn’t been cast but the doctor had put them in steel frame splints. Taylor had barely felt it happening after his odd conversation with the man.   
He was well and truly intimidated by him.  
Once he was sure the splints were stable and he wasn’t going to accidentally knock them, he checked over his shoulder to work out what it would take to get to the bathroom. It was going to take a lot of energy, but he was only getting more and more tired as he waited.  
“Taylor?”  
His eyes went to the ceiling. The call had been faint, and if the air conditioning were any louder he wouldn’t have heard it.  
“Taylor are you okay?”  
“I’m here! I’m fine!” he called back, trying to sit up further.  
“What happened? We saw-“   
He couldn’t hear the rest. Taylor hesitated, unsure of how much he should tell them.  
“I’m okay!” he reiterated before having to clear his throat, “just a broken ankle!”  
He added under his breath, “or two.”  
“Are you sure?” the call came after a slight pause.  
“I’m sure! Get some sleep guys!”  
“Okay. Goodnight.”  
Taylor took a deep breath, still trying to work himself up to moving. If he could finish off the latest gallon of water they’d given him he could use the bottle as a makeshift toilet, but that was still a way off and he wasn’t going to be able to hold it. He hated that the splints looked so fragile which made him worried about moving them too far. He needed his ankles to heal as soon as they could.  
He lay down onto his side, careful of the tubing that came half an inch out of his arm. He reached down to the floor with his left hand, twisting himself so that he could fall onto his knees. He couldn’t help but bump his feet a little which sent sharp pain shooting up both his legs and - knowing the younger clones would hear if he cried out - he managed to contain an outburst and grit his teeth instead. After another few deep breaths he managed to crawl toward the bathroom. Moving wasn’t hard once he got the hang of it and it was a lot easier crawling back to the bed once he was done.  
Getting to the door was suddenly going to take a lot more effort than it was worth, so he considered himself well and truly stuck for the night.

“Honey I know they’re shiny but I’m trying to keep you alive,” Carey was swatting his daughter’s hand away from the knife block on the kitchen counter as he held her on his right hip and tried to work with his left hand alone, “not to mention myself because your mother would kill me.”  
His phone rang making him curse.  
“Don’t learn that word,” his instantly told Ellie, “please don’t learn that word. Wait until you hear Mom say it.”  
He took her around the edge of the counter to where he’d left the phone on the arm of the couch, struggling for a moment to answer it one-handed.  
“Carey Miller.”  
“Hello, Carey. It’s Isaac Hanson.”  
Carey paused with a frown.  
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re the last person I expected to hear from,” he admitted, “is everything okay?”  
“Yeah, sure. I mean aside from Taylor still being gone.”  
“I’m sorry to hear. I’ve been getting small updates from Alex but we’ve been kind of busy ourselves.”  
“So I hear, congratulations to the both of you! Sorry you haven’t heard from us.”  
“Completely understandable. And I mean… I’m not expecting anything of you guys, I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”  
“We don’t, I promise. Despite everything I mean I’d still congratulate any one of you if I were able to.”  
“Yeah, sure,” Carey felt awkward suddenly at the reminder of his anomaly.  
Ellie distracted him by reaching for the floor and he attempted to set her down without dropping her. He took the moment to rub his aching right ankle.  
“So anyway, what I was calling for-“  
“Yeah, go ahead.”  
“I know this doesn’t seem like great timing, but would you be interested in coming out to Tulsa in the next few days? Mom’s been home a while now and I know she’d like to see you again.”  
“Oh,” Carey was taken by surprise, “I was actually thinking about it but I didn’t want to intrude.”  
“You wouldn’t be, I promise,” Isaac insisted, “we’ve even got some people we’d like to introduce you to. But I just think with this whole Jackson thing going on it would be a good distraction for those of us who know what’s going on. I’m sure Natalie could use a friend right now, if Emma’s up for it.”  
“Actually that’s the other thing,” Carey’s eyes were on his daughter as he shadowed her across the living room, “she’s at a job interview right now so anything we do kind of depends on the outcome of that.”  
“Of course, that’s pretty important. But you’re welcome to bring the kids if she needs some time off too. We’re actually leaving on tour next week.”  
“So I heard,” Carey checked over his shoulder, not sure if he heard something from the nursery or not, “you don’t think it would be easier to wait until you got back?”  
“We’ll be gone for quite a while with not much of a gap in the middle. I just figured it would be a bit of a pick-me-up to get us going under less than ideal conditions.”  
“Yeah sure, I understand. I’ll just have to talk with Emma when she gets home. I doubt she’d be happy if I just decided to take the kids to Tulsa on a whim.”  
“Sure, sure.”  
“So I’ll talk to her about it when she gets home and let you know. Can I message you on this number?”  
“Sure.”  
“Great.”  
An awkward silence followed as neither of them could figure out how to say goodbye.  
“So-“  
“Just one more question,” Carey cut in.  
“Sure go ahead.”  
“What’s the ‘Jackson thing’?”

Mark couldn’t help but look over his shoulder as he pulled into the parking space in front of the care facility. He hated that he was back to being paranoid. Since Walker had turned up he felt like he was back to walking the fine line between being a functioning member of society and becoming a secret government lab rat never to be seen again.   
He slid his keys into his back pocket and his sunglasses into his hair as he stepped up to the main gate and made his way through to the reception.   
“Afternoon ladies,” he greeted the receptionists in his usual casual way, “anything to report on my Dad since I’ve been gone?”  
“Afternoon Marcus,” the older lady handed him the sign-in book, “he had a short stay in hospital for some fluid on his lungs, but he was back within a few days good as new.”  
“What happened?” Mark frowned as he signed the book.  
“Heating broke in his room. Maintenance didn’t figure it out for a few days. All costs have been covered.”  
“Thank you.”  
“We’re more interested in your news,” the younger woman leant purposely over the desk, “your brother was here? And his wife was having a baby?”  
“A boy named Max,” he knew the details they’d actually want, “I haven’t spoken to him but as far as I know Mom and baby are both fine. It’s their second kid so you’d hope they would know what they’re doing by now.”  
“Pass on our congratulations,” the older woman smiled, “I’ll buzz you in.”  
“Thanks,” Mark returned the smile before heading for the hall.  
As soon as he turned away he rolled his eyes. He was sure Carey hadn’t even made it to their father’s room during his short stay.


	5. Chapter 5

Isaac felt his phone vibrating in his back pocket in a break during band practise. Seeing Carey’s name on the screen he quickly excused himself, unplugging the Fender and taking it with him into the sound booth.  
“Hey, sorry. We’re just practising right now.”  
“Do you want me to call back or…?”  
“No that’s fine. We could use a break right now,” he eyed where Jackson was still arguing with Demetrius.  
“Okay… Well, Emma didn’t get the job.”  
“I’m sorry to hear that.”  
“But it means we’re free for the next week if the offer is still on the table.”  
“Of course it is. We’d love to have you,” Isaac insisted, “I spoke with Natalie and she’s happy for you guys to stay at Tay’s again.”  
“With him not there? Won’t that be weird?”  
“She didn’t appear to think so, if that’s any consolation.”  
“Okay.”  
“If anything I think she’s looking forward to meeting Max.”  
“Oh right. I spent so long in rehab I forgot Emma was still pregnant when she left Tulsa.”  
“Understandable.”  
“It would probably do Ellie some good to be around kids again. Should I call her?”  
“I can let her know. When do you think you’ll make it?”  
He looked up at a knock on the window. Jackson was there, wanting him back in the room.  
“How soon are you guys hitting the road?”  
“Five days,” Isaac turned his back to the window.  
“I guess we’ll head off tomorrow then.”  
“Great! Can’t wait to catch up with you. You have my number so just keep me updated on where you are and when you get here.”  
“…Sure. See you then.”  
Isaac ended the call and turned back to the window. Zac was there now while Jackson was back at the keyboard.  
He gave Zac a wink.

The crunch of the asphalt was unmistakable under those boots. A light shone in his eyes as the sound came closer, and he struggled to pull himself up before they could grab him. He’d barely made it to his feet when the light suddenly went out and he felt someone grab him by the arm.  
Taylor started awake with his heart racing. It nearly stopped altogether when he realized a soldier was standing over him. With his eyes not quite focused yet he didn’t see the soldier’s face before he turned to leave the cell. He’d made it outside and closed the door before Taylor recognized him as the staring guard.  
“What the hell?” he sat up properly, watching as the soldier gave him another look before walking away.  
“Taylor?” he heard a faint call from the vent, sending his eyes to the ceiling.  
“What happened?!” he called out, hoping they could hear from there.  
“They couldn’t see.”  
Taylor took a quick look around the cell. Nothing had changed as far as he could see. He still had the same amount of water as he had before he’d passed out and it didn’t look like anything had been cleaned since his last appointment.  
He knew if the splints on his ankles had been moved it would have instantly woken him up, so it hadn’t been that.  
With a few grunts he twisted down onto his hands and knees and crawled toward the door. The three clones that occupied the opposite cell were all watching. Knowing they hadn’t seen anything he tried to see further down the corridor. There wasn’t even a guard in sight.  
“What are you doing?” he asked aloud, his hairs still standing on end from the encounter.  
One of the opposite clones was distracted by something to the left that Taylor couldn’t see. Another disappeared back into the cell. The third kept his eyes on Taylor and he saw him mouth the words ‘are you okay?’ to which Taylor gave him a thumbs up before collapsing tiredly against the door.  
They hadn’t taken his blood again since his ankles had been broken but the lack of stimulus and now his inability to move very far had left him lethargic. It helped with his ability to sleep but not with anything else. He knew he’d have to find some other way to keep his strength up and soon. His next appointment was due in just a couple of days.  
He looked back into the cell, trying to find some semblance of inspiration. After making sure the clones weren’t trying to get his attention at all he crawled back toward the bed. He drank some more of the water before rolling onto his stomach, careful to keep his ankles straight and not hit his toes on the floor. He took a deep breath as he centered himself before doing a half push up.  
His arms didn’t like it, which told him just how weak he’d gotten already. He kept a careful eye on the valve in his arm just to make sure it wasn’t going to pop out before doing a few more.  
It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

It didn’t take long for Penny to answer the door, and she immediately turned to look over her shoulder.  
“Uncle Carey’s here!” she called out before opening the door further.  
“Thanks,” he couldn’t help but smile a little as he carried the children’s luggage inside along with an empty baby carrier, “how have you been?”  
“Okay. You’re in the same room if you wanna-“  
“Thanks,” he headed for it right away.  
Natalie appeared a moment later, drying her hands on a towel she set aside.  
“Hey,” Carey wasn’t sure how to greet her, “sorry for the late notice and all.”  
“Don’t worry, I know that it was Isaac’s idea,” Natalie waved him off before spotting Emma behind him and quickly going in for a one-armed hug, “it’s so good to see you guys again.”  
“You too,” Emma replied, careful not to squash Max while he was in her arms, “we have someone to introduce you to.”  
“Hey Max,” she greeted with a smile, “oh you’re just gorgeous. I can’t believe how big you are already.”  
“Is it okay if he takes up the cot that Ellie had?” Emma wanted to make sure.  
“It’s already in the room,” Natalie assured, “where is Ellie?”  
“She fell asleep about an hour ago so Ezra’s watching her in the car.”  
Carey soon reappeared empty handed and made his way back out to the car to fetch his daughter and some of their own luggage. Emma aimed for the baby carrier which he’d set nearby, placing Max down into it so that she could go and help. No sooner had she set him down did he start to cry.  
“Oh no,” she sighed, picking him up again.  
“The couch should be free if he needs a feed,” Natalie offered, “Viggo and Willa are working at the table and River’s at a friend’s house today.”  
“Thank you,” Emma headed for it right away.  
It didn’t take long for Carey to empty the car with Ezra’s help. Once they were mostly settled in he texted Isaac to let him know they were there. 

Zac paused in the booth doorway when he realized Isaac was recording live video on his phone.  
“-And we’re really excited to be hitting the road in just a few days now, so we’re all here at the studio – there’s Zac,” he turned the camera to him which prompted Zac to wave awkwardly before turning it back on himself, “we’re all here at the studio putting in hours and hours of practise to perfect these shows for you fine folks and I hope you’ll all enjoy what’s coming. See you guys soon.”  
He ended the video and looked up expectantly.  
“Haven’t done that in a while,” Zac’s brow rose.  
“Which is why I figured it was time,” Isaac set his phone aside.  
“Time to get people pumped for a tour we’re hoping isn’t going to happen?” Zac was sceptical.  
Isaac didn’t reply but there was a slight smirk he couldn’t hide.  
“Jackson will be here any second. Anything we need to do before he gets here?” Zac hated not knowing what his brother was up to.  
“Nope.”  
“Need any help with anything?”  
“Nope.”  
“Okay…” Zac hesitated before heading out into the studio.  
He stopped in the hall when he realized Jackson had entered it behind him. He hadn’t heard the front door open or close.  
“Morning,” Zac greeted, eyeing him warily.  
“Hey,” Jackson barely looked up from his phone, “anyone here yet?”  
“Just Isaac.”  
“Thank God,” Jackson muttered, immediately dropping the accent again, “I got a piano part I gotta practise and it’s one Tay would know by heart so let me know if anyone turns up.”  
“Sure,” Zac stood back so he could pass and head into the studio instead.  
“I need to get a keyboard…” Zac heard him muttering under his breath.  
Changing his mind about where to go, he went back in to where Isaac was now watching Jackson through the window. Jackson had barely given him a wave before sitting at the piano and testing the keys.  
“Said he needs to practise a piano part,” Zac folded his arms as he stood behind him.  
“He really needs to work on his guitar more,” Isaac shook his head, “at least he knows his way around a piano, but even Dee said something the other day-“  
He cut off as his phone rang. When he saw that it was Carey he checked over his shoulder to make sure Zac was the only one there before answering.  
“Carey, good morning.”  
“Good morning. Uh… so do you want to meet for lunch somewhere or something? I know you really only have two days to-“  
“How about you come down to the studio?” Isaac suggested, making Zac do a double take.  
“I don’t know how I feel about that to be honest.”  
“Zac, Jackson and I are the only ones here,” Isaac tried to reassure him, “I figure the sooner you meet Jackson the better, and I don’t know the likelihood of getting him to go anywhere to meet you.”  
“He can’t come here?”  
“We’re trying to keep him away from Natalie,” Isaac admitted.  
Zac’s eyes had narrowed, still trying to figure out his brother’s game.  
“Uh. Well, if you’re sure I guess. And no one else is there.”  
“We should have plenty of time. Do you know where it is?”  
“Yeah I do.”  
“You’ll see Zac’s truck out front. And if you need some coffee or anything we have an amazing bakery right next door.”  
“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you soon.”  
“Great! See you soon.”  
Isaac was grinning as he ended the call.  
“What the fuck are you doing?” Zac was on edge now, “you know the band’s due to turn up within the hour.”  
“Just trust me.”

Just like Isaac had told him, Zac’s truck was prominently on display outside 3CG. Carey pulled his silver SUV into the spot right next to it and looked around apprehensively before getting out. Just in case anyone were to think he was Taylor he’d tried to dress somewhat like him in a long sleeved black shirt and aviator sunglasses. He wasn’t sure how he’d explain the difference in hair length but he wasn’t about to cut it for the sake of one morning either.  
Never mind that he didn’t even know what ‘Taylor’ looked like at the moment.  
He spied the bakery next door and headed for it, knowing he was going to need the caffeine. There wasn’t a line so he quickly ordered and stood aside to wait, purposely keeping his right hand in his pocket as he checked his phone with his left. He hadn’t been there long when he started to hear whispers behind him.  
Self-conscious and already on edge at being Tulsa, he spotted a couple of girls sitting at a nearby table with their eyes on him. As soon as he made eye contact one of them grabbed her phone from the table and approached.  
“Shit,” he whispered to himself, slightly turning away in the hopes that she’d leave him alone.  
“Hi Taylor,” she wasn’t about to, “how are you?”  
“Fine,” Carey offered a smile before turning away again.  
“We are _so_ looking forward to the tour. But why isn’t there a Tulsa date? Don’t you like your hometown?”  
After all Carey had been through, he didn’t think he’d felt more thankful than when he saw the barista about to hand him his coffee. He quickly put his phone away so that he wouldn’t have to use his right hand.  
“Thank you,” he gave her a nod before turning to leave.  
“Hey! Can we get a photo first? Please?”  
Carey looked back to see that the girl’s friend had joined her and she was holding her phone out ready.  
“Uh, sure,” he didn’t want to argue in case it caused any drama.  
The girls quickly put their hands around his shoulders and he had to stoop slightly to get into the selfie. Once it was taken he said a quick ‘thanks’ and made for the door.  
“So what about Tulsa?” they followed him out, “are we going to get a show outside of Hanson Day? Or is that not a thing anymore?”  
“Isn’t it enough?” Carey couldn’t hide some scorn in his voice as he quickly knocked on the studio door.  
“It’s just that so many of us have been here from the start and we feel like-“  
“OH MY GOD!”  
Carey jumped as the second girl screamed before instantly realizing his mistake.  
He’d used his right hand to knock on the door. The hand that was very obviously missing a finger.


	6. Chapter 6

Zac could hear Jackson muttering to himself and not a lot of piano playing going on so headed back into the studio to check on him. He was sitting on the piano stool but focused on his phone.  
“Everything okay?” Zac announced his presence.  
“Yeah I got it. Just waiting for the band now. Man your fans really will defend you guys to the death won’t they?”  
“What are you looking at?” Zac frowned, coming closer.  
“Just a website to keep up to date. Some of these girls are borderline psychopathic, but others know what they’re-oh wow.”  
“You’re not on that-“ Zac ducked around so he could see the screen, “Jackson, don’t go on Tumblr.”  
“Why not? This is where the good stuff is. Though some of them are very creative with the shit they make up. If only they knew the truth, huh?”  
“We’re very grateful for our fans.”  
“Try saying that without your teeth clenched.”  
“The teeth clenching is not for them.”  
“Zac?!” they heard Isaac calling out.  
“Just stay off Tumblr,” Zac scorned before going to see what his brother wanted.  
He found him at the front window looking outside. There were three people at the door and Isaac was watching them.  
“What is it? Is it Carey?”  
“Just wait for it,” Isaac held a hand up to stop him going to the door.  
In the pause there was a knock on the door. Zac held himself back from answering it before they both heard the accompanying scream. Zac darted for the door but Isaac grabbed him by the arm.  
“Just wait!”  
“For what?!”  
The knocking at the door grew more urgent.  
“Just a couple of seconds,” Isaac insisted as the voices outside grew louder.  
At the next knock Isaac let his brother go. Zac darted for the door, having to remind himself that it was definitely not Taylor on the other side before taking hold of his sleeve to usher him inside. Carey was frantic before the door ever closed behind him.  
“Guys I am so sorry,” he started as soon as he realized they were both there, “they saw my hand! They were taking pictures!”  
“It’s okay! It’s okay,” Zac attempted to calm him down, “they’re going to think they were seeing things. No one will believe them if they say anything. We’re fine.”  
“They were taking _pictures_! Is that normal? Just trying to get in the fucking door?”  
“Guys we need to take this in the back,” Isaac thumbed over his shoulder, well aware that the girls were still hanging around and even trying to see through the tinting.  
“Where?” Carey didn’t know where to go.  
Zac led the way, opting to take him through to the sound booth. The moment Jackson saw him through the window he was on his feet.  
“Take a seat,” Zac offered, knowing that Carey was definitely rattled.  
He had a quick look around before taking up one of the chairs. He’d barely sat down before Jackson was in the doorway.  
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, “the band’s due for practise.”  
“They said I’d have time,” Carey instantly frowned.  
“Carey, Jackson. Jackson, Carey,” Zac quickly introduced.  
“They lied. You’re a C, you can’t be here while I am.”  
“Calm down,” Zac insisted, already wondering why he’d been left to deal with something Isaac obviously had a hand in, “we’ve got time to figure out what we’re gonna do.”  
“Did anyone see you?” Jackson demanded.  
“Yes,” Carey admitted right away, “some girls wanted photos out front. They also saw my hand.”  
“What about your hand?” Jackson frowned, before a scornful look crossed his face when Carey held the hand up.  
“He can’t be here,” he set his sights on Zac, “we cannot conflate this.”  
“What do you mean?” Zac frowned as Isaac finally made an appearance.  
“We’re like magenta and fuscia. Or lavender and periwinkle. There’s ten years difference between us. It’s not obvious when only one of us is here, but you put the two of us together and _bam_.”  
“No one can see us together,” Carey’s eyes gave away his nerves, “I’m not ready for that whirlwind.”  
Zac sent his brother a dark look. He was starting to put two and two together.  
“I just messaged the band and told them practise would be a bit late, so we have time,” Isaac ignored it, “but that time’s going to be limited to about an hour or two so rather than freak out about something that may or may not amount to anything, why don’t we all just take a seat and talk.”  
“Talk about what?” Jackson demanded.  
“We haven’t seen Carey in a long time, we have things to catch up on,” Isaac said pointedly, “and his wife is here to help take some stress off of Natalie. Remember, Taylor’s wife?”  
Jackson just rolled his eyes and left the room. Zac hesitated before following him. He could already hear him on the phone.  
“This is E8 reporting in. We might have a problem.”  
“So much for a quick morning catch up, huh?” Carey avoided eye contact with Isaac as he focused on his coffee.

At first Taylor wasn’t sure if he were awake or still dreaming. His vision was blurry and there were stars behind his eyes. But he knew that something was wrong.  
He tried to push himself up on the bed and was instantly overcome with vertigo. A wave of nausea swept over him. But he still had the sense to feel the wet.  
He lifted his right hand and had to squint to focus. The palm, fingers and forearm were all coated in red. Taking a moment to try and figure out why, his breath caught in his throat when he realized what he was laying in.  
It was blood. A lot of it. It was coming from the faucet in his arm.  
He quickly reached over with his left hand to twist the mechanism off. He missed on the first few tries, still struggling to focus his eyes. Once he had it turned off he forced himself to sit up properly and only then did he see where the blood had already been dripping to the floor.  
The puddle was nearly two feet wide. There had to be half a gallon that had spilled.  
He was in trouble.  
He forced himself up onto his side, trying to ignore the warning flashes still in his mind’s eye. He could feel his heart starting to race and knew it wasn’t a good sign. He tried to reach down with his left hand to a space on the floor that was still white but when he pulled himself down he couldn’t help but land in the puddle. He could feel the blood soaking into his shirt and pants all down his right side before managing to get onto his hands and knees and crawl towards the door.  
He had to stop twice to get his bearings. He still wasn’t entirely sure that he was awake. But he forced himself to press on and he eventually made it to the glass. When he put his left hand up to try and get the guard’s attention he realized it too had been covered in blood and he left a bloody handprint on the door as he tried to pull himself as close to it as he could possibly get.  
It didn’t take long for the clones across the hall to spot him. He still couldn’t hear them but he could see them frantically trying to get someone’s attention by hitting their glass and waving their arms. Knowing he’d done all that he could, Taylor finally collapsed and closed his eyes.

After an hour or so had passed Carey had managed to calm down, and with Isaac’s help managed to feel somewhat better about the situation. Zac had been checking the front doors periodically and though they couldn’t see very far was sure the girls had moved on. Nothing had appeared on social media about the encounter.  
“So how long are you staying with Natalie?” Isaac asked as Carey was psyching himself up to actually leave.  
“I don’t know yet, we didn’t really come with a plan,” he shrugged, “I don’t want to say ‘until Taylor comes back’ but Max has some doctor appointments in the next couple of weeks that he can’t miss.”  
“Everything okay?” Isaac frowned.  
“Yeah he’s fine, it’s just check-ups,” Carey assured, “because he was a little prem and his lungs hadn’t quite formed properly he was in hospital for a while after he was born and they just want to make sure he’s progressing properly.”  
Zac’s phone rang and he stepped out into the hall to take it.  
“Well that’s good,” Isaac nodded to himself, “what do the labs think about it?”  
“We actually had a lady checking in on us every other day as soon as we brought him home,” Carey wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell them about it, “from the labs. So they’re well aware of what’s going on.”  
“Still keeping with your contract?”  
“We didn’t really have a choice,” Carey looked him in the eye, “we weren’t about to give them an excuse to take him from us.”  
“I guess not,” Isaac’s thoughts went to Natalie and wondering how that would play out.  
They both looked up when they heard Zac’s voice raise. When it didn’t stop Isaac made for the door.  
“It was barely seconds how could it have-“  
“What’s going on?” Isaac demanded.  
“I’ll call you back,” Zac locked eyes with his brother before ending the call.  
Without responding he went through to the front room again. Isaac followed him.  
“Zac? What are you-“  
“I can’t believe you,” Zac turned on him once he’d caught up, “I can’t believe you’d do this without even warning anyone!”  
“Do what?”  
“Don’t! Just don’t,” Zac was fuming, “you know exactly what you did. Now we’ve got a news crew outside waiting for an exclusive.”  
Isaac’s eyes went to the window. A shadow of a person was about to knock on the door.  
“That worked quicker than I thought,” he muttered under his breath.  
“Why would you keep this a secret?!”  
“Because I knew no one would agree to it,” Isaac went to answer the door.  
Zac stopped him.  
“This is not a good idea,” he insisted, “we’re not ready for this. Carey’s not ready for this!”  
“What better reason to cancel a tour?”  
“You’re insane. Tay is going to kill you.”  
“Tay has to come back first,” Isaac scoffed before throwing him off and opening the door, “can we help you gentlemen?”


	7. Chapter 7

“What’s going on?” Carey’s eyes were wide as the Hansons returned to the booth.  
“They’re not going away,” Isaac tried to look worried as Zac handed Carey his phone.  
On the screen was an article by the local news team that contained one of the photos the girls had taken just over an hour earlier.  
“What is that?” Carey backed off a little, “did this- did they go to the media?!”  
“Looks like,” Isaac folded his arms, “they’re here asking for statements already.”  
“What do we do?!”  
“We should hole up here for a while,” Zac suggested, “they’ll give up eventually.”  
“You caused this,” Jackson suddenly appeared in the doorway, his eyes on the Hansons, “why would you invite him here? What was the plan?”  
“We didn’t know this would happen,” Isaac defended, Zac just not wanting to lie about it, “but now that it has, we’re going to deal with it.”  
“Can you see my hand in that photo?” Carey had handed the phone back to Zac but he stole it back again to check.  
“Not clearly,” Zac tried to reassure him.  
“We can’t go outside until the press leave,” Jackson put his foot down, “and even then we can’t leave any less than six hours apart. So get comfortable.”  
“Six hours? Why six hours?” Zac frowned.  
“It covers enough time for him to have decided to cut his hair and change his clothes and come back,” Jackson reasoned, “either that or we cut his hair right now.”  
“You’re not cutting my hair,” Carey was determined.  
“Then six hours it is,” Jackson shrugged, “I’ve done worse.”  
“I’m not going to ask,” Zac took a seat.  
“I wouldn’t tell you if you did.”  
“It just disappeared!”  
“What did?” Isaac frowned.  
“The article,” Carey looked up, “I was halfway down it and the page just disappeared. It won’t reload.”  
Isaac took out his own phone to search for it. It was just in time to get a call.  
“You won’t find it,” Jackson looked between them, “it’s DIGER working their magic. Any trace of this will be gone moments after it goes live.”  
“Would Alex know about this?” Zac was indicating for Carey to give his phone back.  
“Alex Bell? From the C series?” Jackson waited for his nod, “no idea. Why do you ask?”  
“It’s kind of his thing.”  
“They’re outside,” Isaac said suddenly, having taken his call.  
“Who?” Zac asked.  
“Everyone.”

Alex was clicking away crazily. He hadn’t had word from anyone on the subject yet but his own sensors and trackers had picked up the story in Tulsa. A quick check of Carey’s tracer told him what must have happened and he was readily working to suppress the information leak.  
Someone was beating him to the articles so he tried a different route. He found the coded information in the photos of Carey that told him what kind of phone they’d been taken on, and within fifteen minutes or so he’d both tracked and hacked the fan’s cell phone.   
He’d killed it, wiping the data. He checked her online accounts to make sure she hadn’t uploaded it anywhere and was about to check her messaging to make sure she hadn’t sent it to any of her friends when a call came through for him.  
“This is Alex,” he answered his headset, not really paying attention while he worked.  
“Mr Bell, Walker Hanson.”  
“Mr Hanson,” he stopped what he’d been doing, “we might have a bit of a situation in Tulsa.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“Carey’s there. For some reason,” Alex shook his head, “he was spotted by a couple of Hanson fans and they’ve sent photos of him to the local news station – including one of his three-fingered right hand.”  
“How long ago?”  
“I don’t know maybe two hours? I’ve deleted a lot of information already and someone else is doing the same thing.”  
“It will be the DIGER tech team containing the leak, but there is only so much they can do. I think our time keeping Carey a secret is coming to an end.”  
“What are you saying? Do you want me to stop?” Alex was confused, “you want people to think Taylor has a twin?”  
“It would solve at least a few problems, don’t you think?”  
“But Taylor’s not here! How can we expect Jackson to make any kind of official statement on his behalf? And what happens if Taylor comes back?”  
“I’m still working on that, which was what my call was initially about.”  
“Have you found him?” Alex jumped on.  
“No. But we have many avenues to try and we’ve only worked through two so far.”  
“I take it those didn’t go so well.”  
“We’ve managed to keep the operations somewhat contained, but the Russians are aware that we’re searching.”  
“Anything I can do to help yet?”  
“No, we need to keep as few people involved as possible.”  
“Right. Well. Thanks for the update. Um. What about Carey? What should I do?”  
“I think we should let this run its course. The boys let this happen and they can surely deal with the consequences.”

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be. We’re on kind of a lockdown right now,” Carey’s head was in his hand as he held the phone in the other, “I know what I said, but I can’t just walk out of here while a bunch of news crews have us surrounded!”  
“It looks like there’s more people now than before,” Zac told Isaac as he returned to the room, “I don’t think this is going to end anytime soon.”  
“Maybe we should think about preparing a statement?” Isaac suggested, his eyes on Carey’s back.  
“No one’s going to believe that he and I are twins,” Jackson rolled his eyes from the couch, “I told you, we’re like-“  
“Pink and pink and purple and purple we know,” Isaac scorned.  
Jackson threw his hands up in the air.  
“They won’t let Bex through, she’s been sitting outside for about ten minutes,” Zac was checking his phone, “I told Kim just to go home and I’d call her tomorrow.”  
“And everyone else?” Isaac’s brow rose.  
“Word’s getting around. Jess wants answers.”  
“She’s not the only one.”  
“Your sister’s kinda hot,” Jackson was fiddling with the connections to the Yamaha in front of him.  
“Don’t touch that,” Isaac swatted his hand away.  
“You’re not even using it!”  
“Has Bex seen if anyone’s in the alleyway?” Isaac focused on Zac instead, “it might be a way out.”  
“I can check,” Zac started texting.  
Carey set his phone on the desk after his call ended and let out a groan.  
“You okay over there?” Isaac checked.  
“No.”  
He stood up from the chair and left the booth.  
“Where are you going?” Isaac called after him.  
“I need some air.”  
“I’ll watch him,” Zac kept his eye on his phone as he followed him out.  
They could see through the window that Carey had only gone into the studio. He rubbed his face before folding his arms.   
“Have you heard anything from the lab?” Isaac asked Jackson.  
“I’ve told them what’s happening. I reckon the missing media is thanks to them,” Jackson shrugged, “but that’s it. They ain’t offering me anything else.”  
“So they don’t care?”  
“I wouldn’t say that,” Jackson looked up, “but they’re more about prevention than cleaning up mess. Think I might be up against this one on my own.”  
“So work with us,” Isaac shifted to lean back against the console, “help us make this statement.”  
“And what happens when your brother doesn’t come back?” Jackson couldn’t hide the scorn, “you’re going to tell the world that he has a twin, but you got no original brother to show for it. This is not a good time to have the eyes of the world on us. There’s only so much I can do.”  
“So we string them along,” Isaac shrugged, “like you said, we don’t let them see both of you at the same time. We don’t answer their questions. We give them the tiniest of hints just to keep them guessing.”  
He paused for dramatic effect.  
“We cancel the tour.”  
Jackson’s eyes narrowed and he sat up on the couch.  
“Did you do this just to cancel the tour?” he accused straight out, “because there were much easier ways to do that.”  
“Consider it killing two birds with one stone.”

Taylor felt like he was waking up from the deepest sleep he’d ever had. There were lights directly above him and the first thing he felt was the heat. The second thing – the pain still in his ankles.  
He groaned as he tried to focus his eyes, and it took trying to sit up for him to realize he was strapped down. He was in the chair they usually took his donations from with the surgical lights above him, and a reflective Mylar foil blanket over him was making the lights even more blinding. An oxygen mask covered half his face.  
“Welcome back,” he heard the woman’s voice to his right and he immediately tried to focus on her.  
“What happened?” his voice croaked as he fell back into the chair.  
He could feel himself sweating and his clothes were saturated. He couldn’t see his right arm under the foil but it felt like the plastic was still in place.  
“You lost a lot of blood,” she didn’t sound happy, “lucky for you we had plenty in storage. Получить врача.”  
He heard the door open but he didn’t see who walked out. The sound of the boots however was unmistakable.  
“Please stay still. You were asleep for a long time.”  
“It’s hot. I’m hot,” he tried to shift under the blanket.  
“We will take it off soon. Calm down.”  
Taylor closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He tried not to think about the blood. He’d seen a bag in his peripheral that he assumed was connected to his arm somehow and worked out that they must have been giving him a transfusion using his own donations.   
As promised the foil was removed shortly after along with the oxygen and one of the soldiers began doing a check of his vitals. Taylor took one look at how bloodstained his clothes still were and promptly closed his eyes again. The daze was clearing but the nausea was staying. He felt absolutely exhausted.  
He could hear them working around him. He’d nearly dozed off again when he heard the door open.  
“Узнайте, сделал ли он это нарочно,” he heard the woman say, making Taylor open his eyes again.  
It took a moment for his eyes to focus but once they had he nearly jumped out of his skin.  
Dr Ivanovich was putting on latex gloves.


	8. Chapter 8

“What’s going on?” his eyes went to the woman as his heart began to race, “why is he here? What do you want? Why am I-“  
“Calm down,” Ivanovich gave him a gentle pat on the forehead as he looked him over.  
“Why?” the touch had only made it worse, causing flashbacks from the last time he’d seen him, “what do you want from me?”  
He was already sweating again and the nausea had multiplied. He couldn’t pull his eyes from the man’s face.  
“I have some things to ask of you, Taylor,” he wasn’t returning the eye contact, “and I need you to be truthful with me.”  
“I’ve got nothing to lie about,” Taylor barely got out, his voice breaking as he spoke.  
Ivanovich hushed him, again putting a hand to his forehead. This time he made eye contact and Taylor’s breath left his throat.  
“If you have nothing to lie about, then you have nothing to worry about,” Ivanovich offered a smile.  
“Why don’t I believe that?”  
Ivanovich remained staring down at him, sending a shiver down his spine. Taylor knew he could feel the shaking through his touch but he couldn’t force himself to stop.  
“Did you do this on purpose?” Ivanovich asked without moving.  
“Do what?” Taylor was confused and struggling to think straight.  
“Did you lose the blood on purpose?” the doctor clarified.  
“What?” Taylor’s eyes widened, “why would I do that?! I nearly died!”  
“Perhaps you thought that maybe if our friends here didn’t have your blood to use, they would stop their important research using your American kin out there,” he tilted his head.  
“That doesn’t make sense!” Taylor frowned, “they were doing it before I got here, why would my death change anything?!”  
Ivanovich nodded to himself before removing his hand from Taylor’s forehead. He took a step to the side and placed his right hand on Taylor’s right knee instead.  
“NO! Wait! No!” Taylor panicked, “don’t do anything, _please_! I’m not lying! Please don’t hurt me!”  
“Did you instigate that ugly escape attempt some time back?” Ivanovich looked up again, not moving his hands from Taylor’s knee.  
“Yes, it was all me,” Taylor insisted, “those boys had nothing to do with it. They were only doing what I asked them to I swear. I didn’t know they’d hurt Kane or I wouldn’t have done it!”  
Ivanovich looked over his shoulder, but Taylor’s eyes didn’t leave him. He focused on his hands instead.  
“Один из субъектов,” he heard the woman confirm.  
“Please don’t hurt them either,” Taylor shook his head, “it wasn’t their fault. I talked them into it. If you’re going to hurt anyone for it I can’t believe I’m saying this but I can take it.”  
He didn’t have a chance to take a breath before yelling out at the sudden pain in his knee. Having taken his eyes from it for the short time it took to plead his case he hadn’t seen exactly what the doctor had done and now he could only react by fighting the restraints and squeezing his eyes shut again.  
“Calm down,” Ivanovich repeated, a supportive hand going to Taylor’s shoulder instead.  
Taylor tried to focus on his voice as he struggled to catch his breath.   
“You’re doing well.”  
“ _Fuck_ it hurts.”  
“It’s supposed to. We don’t want you thinking that your defiance is permissible.”  
“I don’t! I don’t,” his voice broke again.  
“You’ll forgive my friends here if they are not inclined to take your word for it.”  
“You know I’m not lying,” Taylor looked across at him, finding his eyes wet when he opened them again, “you of all people know that I’m not lying.”  
Ivanovich looked him in the eye purposefully again before laying a hand against Taylor’s cheek. Taylor frowned at the touch unsure at from which point he felt violated anymore.  
“We just have to be sure,” he smiled again, “I will fix your knee in a moment. I have merely dislocated it.”  
Taylor grunted at that, trying not to move the leg. But it was hard not to. The pain was shooting up his hip and his back already hurt from the strain. He couldn’t think of a time when he’d been in as much pain as he was right now.  
“God I want to go home,” he closed his eyes again, trying to Dorothy his mind out of the situation.  
“You are home,” Ivanovich gave his shoulder another pat as the woman conferred with guards behind them, “or as close as you’ll ever be again.”  
“Существует еще один вариант. Кровь из стекла вернулась в спичку.”  
“Отправить кому-нибудь, чтобы получить его.”

“The alley’s clear. For now,” Zac appeared in the doorway again, “if we’re going to make a move, now is probably the time.”  
Isaac sighed and stood from the chair.  
“What does Carey think?” Jackson asked, not moving from the couch where he’d been practically the whole time.  
“He’s up for it,” Zac looked between them before moving out so that Isaac could follow.  
“So what’s the deal?” he asked once out in the studio.  
“Bex is going to pull up outside as close to the door as she can get, message me, then we’ll get Carey out and into the car and she’ll drop ‘Taylor’ here off at home,” Zac explained.  
“What if we can’t get out? What if they block the alley?” Carey was rubbing his hands together pacifyingly.  
“Bex knows what she’s doing, she won’t risk it if she can’t get you out,” Isaac put a supportive hand on his shoulder.  
“Okay.”  
“Maybe we should cause a distraction at the front?” Zac suggested, “let Jackson poke his head out or something?”  
“Why?” Isaac frowned.  
“Because we’re going to want to leave eventually too, right?”  
“One thing at a time!”  
“I agree,” Carey nodded to himself, “not to make this all about me or anything, but if we could just make _this moment_ about me that would be great. I need to get out of here.”  
“And you will,” Zac insisted as Isaac’s phone rang.  
Isaac paused when he saw the name on screen before taking a few steps back.  
“Who is it?” Zac frowned.  
“It’s Avery. I’ll try and be quick.”  
“Bex is going to message any time from now,” Zac turned his attention back to Carey, “so…”  
He indicated the back door, and Carey readily aimed for it.   
“There’s nothing to tell!” Isaac was insisting into the phone, “I promise I’ll call you later, how’s that? But we’ve got a situation here right now and we need to- Avery no! That’s not gonna help!”  
Zac paused and looked back as Isaac’s voice rose.  
“Just trust me for now. I’ll call you later.”  
Before he could end the call, a message came through on Zac’s phone.  
“That’s your cue,” he looked to Carey, “ready?”  
“No,” Carey admitted, wishing he had a hoodie to cover his face with, “but let’s do this.”  
“Sounding like a Hanson already,” Zac began to unbolt the door.  
He waited for Carey’s nod before opening it, and Carey darted outside as soon as he did. The alley was dark already and Bex had parked about as close to the building as she could get. Carey could barely open the door enough to squeeze himself in.  
“Hold on,” she immediately pulled away, catching him off guard.  
He looked back to see shadows in the alley as they pulled out onto Brady St and headed for Detroit Ave.

Mark made sure the gate was latched behind him as he left the facility sometime after visiting hours had ended. But when he looked up to see someone standing by his bike, he froze.  
“Mr Miller.”  
He quickly looked around to make sure he was alone. Not seeing any backup, Mark made for his bike anyway.  
“What the fuck do you want?” was half under his breath.  
He quickly checked the bike to make sure nothing had been done to it.  
“I didn’t touch your bike,” the officer in plain clothes scorned, “I take it you haven’t heard the news out of Tulsa yet.”  
“Why would I care about news out of Tulsa?” Mark rolled his eyes, knowing that riding away wasn’t an option at this point.  
“Sounds like that Taylor Hanson girl has a twin.”  
Mark locked eyes with him at that.  
“Really,” he assured, holding up a cell phone with the story on the screen, “they’re sayin’ there’s two of ‘em now. Know anything about that?”  
“Why would I? I’m obviously here,” Mark shrugged.  
“But your brother’s not.”  
“What do you want?” Mark’s brow rose, “what are you hoping to get out of harassing us?”  
“I want to know,” Mike sidled up and got into his personal space, “how many assholes are out there wearing that ugly ass face of yours.”  
“You know this isn’t intimidating, right? You’re alone and a foot shorter than me.”  
“Everything okay out here?”  
Mike took a step back the moment they heard her voice. One of the carers from the facility was leaving for the night.  
“We’re fine, thanks,” Mark gave her a wave, taking the opportunity to sit on his bike and put the keys in.  
“Good evening ma’am,” Mike dipped his hat as she walked to her nearby car.  
They waited until she’d pulled out of the lot before saying anything else.  
“I’m up to five,” Mike approached the bike, “five faces ain’t no coincidence.”  
“I don’t care,” Mark started the bike.  
“I find that hard to believe.”  
“Look, I don’t have time for conspiracy theories, okay?” Mark glared over his shoulder, “that was always Carey’s thing. Why don’t you go talk to him?”  
“Last time I tried that I ended up facing off with Taylor Hanson.”  
“You what?” Mark had to stop himself.  
“You didn’t know?” Mike was smirking now, knowing he had Mark’s attention, “thought I was escorting your bro from his house to the airport, which I thought was odd in itself. Made him show me his ID and it turned out it wasn’t your bro after all. It was the pop star.”  
“When?” Mark demanded.  
“Not too long before that baby of theirs was born I don’t think.”  
“And what did you get out of him?”  
Mike took a step back, the smirk still locked on his face.  
“Maybe you’ll answer some of my questions if you want to know anything else.”  
“Yeah? You’re forgetting something,” Mark scowled.  
“And what’s that?” Mike just watched him as began to back the bike out.  
“I don’t fucking care.”  
With that, Mark rode away. A quick look in the mirrors showed that Mike didn’t bother following, opting to watch from the driveway as he disappeared down the road.

“Yes. I’m here.”  
“Calling to touch base, Sir.”  
“Glad to hear it. How close are you to finding my son?”  
“If you’re asking my personal opinion?”  
“I always am.”  
“Right. Well we think we’ve got the base but we’ve got a few problems. One of which is the high tech security. It’s a lot more sophisticated than the other ones.”  
“I can put you in touch with a team to handle that.”  
“Great. The second problem is numbers.”  
“We do have limited resources, but I can put in a call-“  
“I had something specific in mind. Something you helped me with, back when we first met.”  
Walker paused, again avoiding eye contact with his supervising agent.  
“I don’t know if I can allow that.”  
“Then find someone who can. We’re going to need the help. I guarantee it.”  
“I don’t see how it would make the mission any less dangerous.”  
“Then you haven’t understood a word I’ve said to you.”  
Walker rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to decide. The agent beside him checked his watch.  
“I’ll make a call. I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t guarantee anything.”  
“Thank you Sir.”  
“Thank me later. Good luck Mr Rickett.”  
“I’ll be waiting on that call, Sir.”  
Walker handed the phone back and was yet again escorted out. This time when he made it back to the hotel he opened his laptop and connected to Tulsa’s local news site. While he waited for it to load on the hotel Wi-Fi he took his cell phone from the counter and dialled Morris’ number.  
“Walker Hanson. To what do I owe the pleasure?”  
“I need a favor,” Walker didn’t react as a live feed from outside 3CG came onto his screen.  
Both Zac and Isaac were standing at the front door with Jackson behind them in the doorway. Camera flashes were blinding them and they were having trouble getting a word in with the crowd.  
“What can I do for you?”  
“I need you to get in touch with an old friend,” Walker turned the audio on, “one you used to work with in Dallas.”  
 _”There will be a statement for the media in the morning,”_ Isaac was pointedly saying to the film crew, _”it will be on your desks as soon as we get it done. Please just give us tonight to get everything together and work on it.”_  
 _”It is not anywhere near as exciting as you guys are making it out to be!”_ Jackson called out from behind.  
“What are you boys doing?” Walker muttered under his breath.


	9. Chapter 9

“Are you okay?” Emma immediately threw her arms around her husband as he got out of the car.  
“I’ve been better,” he admitted, hugging her back, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”  
They looked up as the driver’s door opened and Bex got out. Natalie had followed Emma outside and jumped on her right away.  
“Thanks for bringing him home,” she insisted, “it sounds like it’s getting a little crazy downtown.”  
“You’re welcome,” Bex assured, “now do I get to find out who he is?”  
Carey froze. They hadn’t spoken a word on the way to Natalie’s house and he’d been happy not to provoke conversation.  
“What do you mean?” Natalie tried to sound surprised.  
“I’m not an idiot, I saw the news,” Bex insisted, “his hair is nearly to his shoulders. It wasn’t yesterday. So who is he?”  
“Maybe we should go inside,” Emma started to pull him away.  
“His name is Carey,” Natalie decided quickly, “Carey Miller. He’s Taylor’s twin brother.”  
Carey watched closely as Bex took a moment to take it in, before making his way around the car to her and holding out his hand.  
“It’s nice to meet you,” he forced himself not to stutter, “Bec? Was it?”  
“Bex,” Natalie corrected before she could, “I’m sorry.”  
“Now is as good a time as any I guess,” Carey shrugged, “if Isaac and Zac have anything to do with it I might be front page news tomorrow whether I’m ready or not.”  
“Speaking of which…” Natalie eyed Emma, “I have some media of my own to contact before the guys get too carried away. Do you two have any photos you could lend me to share?”  
“I’m just going to leave you to it,” Bex finally found her voice and had started backing toward the car.  
“I’m sorry. I’m sure one of them will call you,” Natalie apologized again.  
They stood back as she drove away, waiting until her car was out of sight.  
“I’m going to kill them,” Carey broke the silence, “I know they did this on purpose.”  
“Let’s not get carried away,” Emma insisted as Natalie led them back into the house, “we’ll hear them out first, then we plan the murders if necessary.”

“Have you seen the People article?” Zac sounded a lot calmer already over the phone.  
“I was reading it when you called. Nicole found it,” Isaac was leaning over the kitchen bench with his coffee, “I guess Natalie got the jump on us.”  
“She could have called.”  
“Well I guess that’s payback for not warning her.”  
“Right. I forgot for a moment that this was entirely orchestrated. By you.”  
“I think I did my best under the circumstances.”  
“You still think this was a good idea?”  
“I don’t think it was a _bad_ idea,” Isaac still wasn’t awake enough to get into it, “but I’ll admit it was a rush job.”  
“Someone should probably touch base with Jackson.”  
“Yeah.”  
Moment of silence.  
“So, I guess you haven’t heard from Carey.”  
“Nope.”  
“I should probably call Alex.”  
“Are we still meeting at the studio to sort out this press release?”  
“Studio is probably a bad idea.”  
“…Right.”  
“We could meet at Tay’s if Nat’s okay with it?”  
“Give her a call?”  
“One of us probably should.”  
“I’ll give her a call.”  
“And I’ll call Alex.”  
“Great. I’ll let you know if it’s on or if we need to come up with something else.”  
“Good luck.”  
Isaac ended the call and took another sip of his coffee, Keandre’s ring catching his eye. He paused to twist it around his finger again just as his wife came into the kitchen.  
“Everything okay?” she saw what he was doing.  
“Yeah,” he snapped out of it, standing up properly, “I just need to call Natalie.”  
“Good luck with that,” Nikki smirked, giving him a pat on the arm, “I don’t think she’s going to be happy with you.”  
“You get that feeling too?”  
“You also never called Avery back.”  
“ _Shit._ ”

“They want what?” Carey’s brow rose.  
He was sitting at the dining table over his uneaten breakfast. Emma was rubbing his back. She could feel how tense his whole body was.  
“They just want to talk,” Natalie assured, “it doesn’t have to be a whole in-depth interview at first, they just want to know who you are and where you’ve been all this time.”  
“And what am I supposed to say to that?”  
“LA,” Emma suggested, “you were adopted by loving parents, you grew up with a brother, and you barely left LA. This is only going to be hard if you make it hard.”  
He grit his teeth. Natalie’s phone rang.  
“Do they want it by phone or face to face?” he asked as she picked it up from the table, “or better yet, email? They could send me questions and I could just email them back.”  
“It’s Isaac,” Natalie ignored the question before answering the call and putting it on speaker, “good morning, you’re on speaker.”  
“Oh, hi. Who am I talking to?”  
“Just us adults,” Natalie assured.  
“Everything okay over there?” Carey leant over slightly to ask.  
“That was my question. We found the article you did for People.”  
“I had something ready to go,” Natalie shrugged to herself, “figured it would tide them over until Carey was ready for his first interview.”  
“I like how we’re all just assuming that I’m fine doing _any_ interview,” Carey couldn’t help but smirk.  
“Well your options are running slim,” Emma gave him a pat on the back.  
“It’s better to do at least one and get it out of the way, trust me,” Natalie insisted, “then all the news sites can draw from that instead of harassing you individually.”  
“For what it’s worth she’s right,” Isaac’s voice came through the phone.  
“What if they want to see us together?” Carey pointed out, “what if they ask about my _finger_?”  
“They’ll definitely ask about your finger,” Emma went back to rubbing his back.  
“What am I supposed to say about that?! I can’t say I was kidnapped by the mob!”  
“Ah we were thinking – Zac and I – that we might have to meet up over there instead of at the studio today, if that’s okay with you Natalie?” Isaac changed the subject.  
“Do we really need to?” Natalie frowned.  
“Well we need to write an official statement from us to the press and we don’t really want anyone else doing it is all.”  
“I’ve already started putting something together,” Natalie met Carey’s eyes as she admitted, “if you boys want to come over and check on it then sure. But there’s already a few calls I need to return so-“  
“We can be there right away,” Isaac assured, “I’ll see you soon.”  
The call ended before Natalie could respond.  
“When do they want this interview?” Carey frowned, picking up his fork to at least start playing with his food.  
“I think we’ll have problems if it’s not at least scheduled before lunch,” Natalie set her phone down, “we need to throw them a bone, so to speak.”

Walker checked the peephole before answering a suspicious knock at his hotel door. A familiar agent stood outside with a partner waiting a few feet further down the hall.  
“An urgent call for you Sir,” the agent handed him a satellite phone, “the line is secure.”  
“I’d have preferred to take it elsewhere,” Walker was gruff as he took the phone.  
“I said it was urgent.”  
“You did.”  
Walker closed the door on them before putting it to his ear.  
“Yes?”  
“I need an update, Sir. We’re running out of time.”  
Walker checked over his shoulder before moving into the room to go and close the curtains.  
“How much time do you have?”  
“Maybe a week if we’re lucky. It looks like they’re prepping for transport on a large scale. We estimate that’s how long it will take to get moving.”  
“The package is already on a plane to you. ETA about sixteen hours from now.”  
“Thank you Sir! I mean,” Blake cleared his throat before speaking more formally, “thank you, Sir. I’ll let the ground team know help is on the way. I’ll contact you when it gets here.”  
“You’re welcome. Bring my boy home.”  
“There’ll be a lot better chance now Sir.”

Carey took a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth before closing his eyes as Emma tried to fix his hair.  
“You’ll be fine,” she insisted, “just try not to give too much away.”  
“Ready?” Natalie appeared again after checking on the kids.  
“As I’ll ever be,” Carey glanced up at her.  
She set her laptop down in front of him and opened Skype. She double checked the address she had on her phone email before typing it in. Emma made her final adjustments before stepping away as Natalie’s hand paused over the keyboard.  
“Say when,” her eyes went to Carey.  
“When,” he offered an awkward smile.  
She made the call. It didn’t take long for it to be picked up.  
“Good afternoon, Mr…”  
“Miller,” Carey offered the young lady who answered.  
“Mr Miller. We’re so glad you offered to speak with us today. We can’t wait to break your story to the world.”  
“Uh… you’re welcome. I guess,” he glanced over toward where Emma was giving him a supportive thumbs up.  
“My name is Cora and I don’t want to take up too much of your time but I do have some important questions for you. Firstly, is Taylor Hanson there with you?”  
“He’s not.”  
“He’s not here right now,” Natalie quickly jumped in over his shoulder, “sorry. My husband’s not here but we can show you that you’re definitely not talking to him right now.”  
She tapped him on the arm and it took a moment for Carey to click. Once he did he quickly raised his right hand so the camera could see it.  
“Thank you.”  
Natalie disappeared again.  
“Definitely not the musician,” Carey reiterated before lowering his hand again.  
“We’ll ask about that later if you don’t mind Mr Miller?”  
“Sure.”  
“First could you tell us a little about yourself? And where you’ve been hiding for the last thirty years or so?”  
“Well… my name is Carey Miller, I’m married and I have two amazing kids both under two years old, and as for where I’ve been hiding well I’ve lived in LA for pretty much my whole life. I’ve barely left to travel.”  
“And how long ago did you come into Taylor’s life?”  
“A while, but we tried to keep it need-to-know. A lot of his family didn’t even know. Until yesterday. I still haven’t met a lot of his family.”  
“Is that something you’d like to pursue?”  
“Of course, but I’m in no rush. The Hansons are very busy people.”  
“Have they not made time for you to meet them all yet?”  
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Carey quickly backtracked, again looking to Emma for support, “there just hasn’t been a ‘right time’ yet. I doubt many of them knew until yesterday.”  
“Of course. What were their reactions when you first made contact with the Hansons? Who did you very first talk to? Tell me that story.”  
“Uh…” Carey looked to the side again, worried.  
They hadn’t come up with that backstory yet. He hadn’t even thought to. Somehow he didn’t think saving Taylor from a homicidal clone that he originally thought was his twin was going to cut it.  
‘Make something up!’ Emma was beckoning.  
“Uh. Taylor was actually the first Hanson I spoke to,” he quickly covered, “and he introduced me to his family sometime after that. We had to take our own time to process what was really going on.”  
“Of course. How long did it take between meeting Taylor and meeting his family?”  
“I’m not sure. We kinda went back to our lives and just stayed in touch for a while. I got married in that time-“  
“So this was years ago?”  
“Uh, yeah. A few years back.”  
“And the rest of his family still hasn’t met you? How long was it before Isaac and Zac met you?”  
“A while,” Carey was already feeling uncomfortable, “I still haven’t spent all that much time with them. They’re not all in each other’s pockets; they all have their own lives to live.”  
“But still, this is a pretty big deal. What have your parents had to say about all of this?”  
“His parents or mine?” he was confused.  
“So you were adopted by your parents?”  
“Of course,” he could feel his face going red and wasn’t sure how to counter it, “unfortunately my parents aren’t really in a position to comment on this, but the Hansons have been very supportive.”  
“Have you asked them why you were adopted out? When Taylor is what, one in seven kids anyway?”  
“We’ve talked about it,” Carey was careful, “I know where they stand on it and so does Taylor. I think it’s something we’re still processing and trying to move on from.”  
“Interesting. Let’s talk about your hand.”


	10. Chapter 10

Taylor hadn’t moved in hours when he saw a shadow in his peripheral. The night guard had been pacing back and forth as usual but this particular shadow had stopped at his door. He knew if he looked up he’d see the same soldier he’d caught watching him before. He could feel the goosebumps on the back of his neck already.  
When he heard the door opening he forced his eyes closed and tried to look like he were asleep. He was in no state to put up a fight and he still didn’t know what this particular soldier’s deal was.  
He heard the boots step inside, leaving the door slightly ajar. Taylor focused entirely on keeping his breathing even while his heart began to pick up the pace. The soldier came to the side of the bed and stood over him right where Taylor had woken up to find him weeks before. It was already harder to fake sleep.  
At first he heard nothing but the man breathing. He just seemed to be watching. Not knowing if he was just waiting for him to move or wake up, Taylor debated opening his eyes before he felt a glove touch his arm. He couldn’t help but flinch a little but the soldier didn’t seem to notice. His arm was turned slightly so that the tap was facing outward. Taylor could feel him fiddling with it but couldn’t tell what he was doing. When he heard the drops of liquid however his eyes shot open. Before he could move a hand shot out to cover his mouth and use the pressure to hold him down on the bed. He grabbed for the hand with both of his and could see where the blood was leaking from his arm.  
He couldn’t use his legs for defence and the soldier had a solid grip. With the lights out for the night he could barely make out any features of the man’s face. He saw him raise what looked like a white medicine cup to his face in a gesture to be quiet before setting the cup against Taylor’s arm to catch the stray blood. Taylor waited until he could gather some strength again before attempting to struggle away.  
The soldier’s strength was insane and he was easily able to hold Taylor down with only one hand. The struggles barely seemed to faze him. He patiently waited for the cup to fill with blood before setting it on the floor and using his free hand to lock the tap again. Taylor could still feel droplets running down his arm but it was nowhere near the amount it had been before.  
The man hushed him again before gently taking his hand away from Taylor’s mouth. Taylor knew that he didn’t want him to talk, but he didn’t want to stay compliant if the soldier wasn’t meant to be here either.  
“What do you want that for?” Taylor found his voice, keeping his hands slightly raised in surrender.  
The soldier ignored him as he cleaned up the spill with a rag. Taylor knew he wouldn’t be able to remove the stain that had formed on Taylor’s shirt sleeve, but he was cleaning the floor, the bed, and even his arm.  
“Seriously, I can’t get in trouble for this. I’ll never walk again!” Taylor insisted before the same hand suddenly covered his mouth again.  
He grunted under the pressure.  
“Заткнись.”   
His voice was forceful and Taylor knew what it meant right away. He tried to nod under the hand, and the soldier took it away again.  
It didn’t sound like he understood English anyway so Taylor wasn’t going to try again.  
The soldier finished cleaning up before standing from where he’d been kneeling. Once again he stared down at Taylor, and Taylor recognized for sure the exact form that he’d woken up to before. Only this time he was in no hurry to leave.  
Taylor struggled not to panic as he maintained eye contact. But when he reached for the bottom of Taylor’s shirt and began to pull it up Taylor’s hands shot out to grab his arm again.  
“No,” he whispered as hard as he could, “ _no_.”  
The soldier paused, but smirked. Without another word he left the cell.  
Taylor sat up to watch him go but he didn’t look back this time.

“What did you say?” Isaac asked the moment he made it into the kitchen.  
“What do you mean?” Carey frowned from the counter where he was helping prepare breakfast.  
“Good morning everyone. Nice to see you. How’s your day been so far?” Natalie said pointedly as she followed Isaac in.  
“Sorry,” he looked sheepish, “but media’s not looking good today.”  
“I had nothing to do with your press statement, that was you three and Jackson,” Carey held out a knife.  
“We actually didn’t tell Jackson either so technically it was just us three,” Isaac admitted, “but something you said made the worldwide press think we hate you.”  
“How?” Carey frowned.  
Isaac quickly looked up an article on his phone.  
“Sorry I haven’t checked anything yet this morning,” Natalie admitted, “you’re early.”  
Once Isaac found what he was looking for he held the phone out for Carey. He quickly set the knife down and wiped his hands before taking it.  
“Why would they think we hate each other?” Carey frowned as he scrolled down, “I didn’t say anything like that.”  
“Maybe they’re just working the adoption angle?” Natalie suggested, “you know, how long lost relatives generally turn up once someone becomes successful in life?”  
“So why didn’t I show up in the 90’s instead?” Carey scoffed.  
“I don’t know it was just a suggestion.”  
Isaac’s phone rang which made Carey quickly hand it back.  
“It doesn’t make sense,” he was shaking his head, “I didn’t think I said anything negative. At all.”  
“Hello?” Isaac stepped aside to answer the call, “I’m at Taylor’s, why?”  
He flinched and pulled the phone from his ear.  
“Who was that?” Natalie tried not to laugh at his dumbfounded expression.  
“Avery.”  
“Is she okay?”  
“I do not know.”  
“Anyway… I’m sorry,” Carey pulled the conversation back, “I obviously didn’t mean for this to happen. What do I do about it?”  
“There’s not much you can do,” Natalie gave him a supportive pat on the arm, “next time just make sure you reiterate that everything’s fine. Let Isaac and Zac handle it from here.”  
“Right. You gave them what they wanted, on video nonetheless,” Isaac agreed, “you’ve done your part.”  
“Do you want something to eat?” Natalie offered, making Carey pause what he was doing.  
“No, thank you. I grabbed something on the way over.”  
“Morning Isaac,” Emma greeted as she walked in with Max, “what are you doing here so early?”  
“Well we _were_ going to ask Natalie to go over the press release about cancelling the tour that we worked on yesterday but something else came up.”  
“The media thinks I hate them and they hate me,” Carey shrugged, now helping Natalie serve up.  
The doorbell rang.  
“That should be Zac,” Isaac went to answer it.

“Jackson?” Isaac was surprised to see him.  
“So you’re probably wondering how I got here,” Jackson held up a set of keys, “thought I’d bring Carey’s car back. This address was still in the GPS and I knew Taylor’s house was out here somewhere so I guessed. Considering the studio still has press camped outside I guess we’re meeting here now? Am I allowed inside?”  
Isaac could see Zac pulling up behind where Jackson had parked. Jackson was ignoring the sound of the truck.  
“Am I?” he pressed, “or should I just go twiddle my thumbs elsewhere?”  
“Better inside than out,” Isaac decided before ushering him in.  
He waited for Zac to make it before closing the door.  
“So no one called me,” Jackson began as they made their way toward the kitchen, “about the press releases.”  
“Yeah… we didn’t want to,” Zac admitted openly.  
“Nice.”  
“Oh my God it’s another one.”  
Jackson stopped short when Penny appeared from a doorway with a smirk on her face.  
“Right. There’s kids here,” he remembered aloud.  
“They’re used to it. Which is probably not a good thing when you think about it,” Isaac considered as he kept moving, “anyway they’re about to have breakfast so we should probably aim for the living room.”  
There was a loud knock at the door. Followed by the doorbell. Twice.  
“Are we expecting anyone else?” Zac looked to his brother.  
“No?” Isaac now stopped in his tracks.  
With a confused look Zac backtracked to see who it was. In case it was anyone they didn’t want to see, Isaac led Jackson into the kitchen.  
“What’s he doing here?” was Carey’s immediate reaction.  
“He brought your car back,” Isaac replied for him as Jackson threw the keys.  
Carey easily caught them in his left hand.  
“INCOMING!” they heard Zac’s voice from the front door.  
“What does that mean?” Carey already looked worried.  
“Hi!” Avery immediately set her sights on Jackson, darting forward to shake his hand, “Carey! It’s so nice to meet you. I haven’t heard anything. But I’m your sister! My name is-“  
“Avery,” Jackson finished for her, visibly looking her over appreciatively.  
“Okay,” Isaac quickly jumped in, “that’s enough of that-“  
“Wait,” Avery was looking down, “you have all your fingers. Didn’t this whole thing come out because you didn’t have all your fingers?”  
Carey could feel his face going red, but knew he wouldn’t be able to hide for long. So he made his way out from the counter and offered his hand.  
“I’m actually Carey,” he looked a little sheepish, “it’s nice to finally meet you.”  
Avery just looked confused, looking between the two of them.  
“Then who’s this?” she indicated Jackson, worry showing in her voice.  
“…Taylor?” Isaac suggested for her as Zac finally made it back into the room.  
“That’s not Taylor,” she insisted, making Jackson smirk.  
“Sure it is.”  
“No, it’s _not_. I can see the difference guys. He doesn’t even look the right age. No offence. You don’t look older than me.”  
“Wow this is a long story that we are in no way prepared to tell,” Zac said under his breath.


	11. Chapter 11

Taylor could barely keep his eyes open yet his brain was too wired to let him sleep. Any time the shadow of the guard passed he could feel his skin crawling.  
Eventually his back hurt so much that he had to sit up. He tried to stretch out and reach the base of the steel splints on his ankles but he was so stiff he could barely reach the ankles to begin with. He was too tired to think about getting off the bed and trying to do push ups or anything else. He wasn’t sure at this point if his lethargy was because of his lack of movement or from the amount of blood they were taking from him. They seemed to be coming for him more and more often, and he was sure losing this amount couldn’t be doing him any good.  
He leant against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to twist his back that way. For a second he thought he was getting flashes behind his eyes before he opened them and saw an orange light flashing down the corridor. He waited to make sure he wasn’t seeing things before sitting up properly again.  
“What’s going on?!” he called out, hoping either Joseph or Leon would hear him.  
He thought he heard one of them say something about the emergency system. He remembered the strobe lighting from their escape attempt, but he couldn’t hear any alarms. Either none were going off or the soundproofing was working a charm.  
It felt like forever before he saw shadows crossing the door. A group of soldiers were fanning out to each of the cells, and Taylor could see clipboards in their hands. The lights in the cells suddenly brightened and Taylor had to shield his eyes, but he saw the soldier at his door going down a checklist before stepping back and calling out. Taylor could already feel his face going red, knowing it was something to do with him. But he didn’t recognize any of these particular soldiers.  
By the time they got his door open there was a group of five outside. The one holding the clipboard seemed to stand watch while the other four came inside. Taylor immediately lost interest in what was going on in the other cells as they all came straight for him.  
“What’s happening?” he asked in a vain hope that any of them spoke English.  
Either they didn’t or they ignored him. One of them took hold of his right arm and appeared to check that the faucet was still imbedded properly, and it was while this was happening that Taylor spotted the empty blood bags another soldier was holding.  
“Wait,” he tried to shift on the bed, “that’s too much. I _know_ that’s too much!”  
Seeing that he was getting riled up, a soldier walked around behind him and took hold of his shoulders as the one looking over his arm reached for one of the bags.  
“Three vials!” Taylor looked between them as the one holding his shoulders forced him to lay back, “that was the maximum they ever took! Any more than that and I get sick!”  
The bag was quickly connected and Taylor didn’t know what to do. He knew he didn’t have long before the vertigo would hit him, but he knew he couldn’t fight four of them off.  
“Please,” he tried not to move too much and provoke them, “can I at least talk to the lady in charge? Maybe she could tell me what’s going on and I could-“  
He was cut off by the soldier holding him down suddenly covering his mouth. Instantly he was filled with dread. This couldn’t be official. There were no doctors present, they weren’t worried about keeping everything sterile, they just wanted his blood.  
A lot of it.  
It took two of them to hold his arm still when he started to fight, with the fourth simply leaning over the splints to hold his legs while easily holding his left wrist away. But Taylor tried. He tried until the stars behind his eyes became too much. He barely felt them switching the bags over and starting to fill the second. His vision started to blur as the nausea hit him and he could feel himself starting to pass out. But they never relented.  
Under bright lights and blurry faces the last thing he heard were the boots out in the corridor.

“Why would you cancel the tour? This would be great promotion!” Avery was confused, “you’re all over… everywhere! TMZ is still outside the studio waiting for an exclusive!”  
“Because Tay’s not here,” Isaac scratched his cheek after double checking that Avery’s husband hadn’t followed her in.  
“What do you mean?” she paused.  
“Do you really want to get into this now?” Zac’s brow furrowed at his brother.  
“Yes, you do!” Avery insisted.  
“Okay everyone else? Breakfast. Outside,” Natalie attempted to usher the kids.  
“Did you want to help them out?” Emma suggested over Carey’s shoulder.  
“Not really,” he sighed, handing her a plate, “but I will.”  
“Good boy.”  
“How many people know about this?” Avery demanded, “and for that matter, where _is_ Taylor? Does Jessi know?”  
“Jessi doesn’t know,” Isaac leant against the doorway, “Zoe does, but I only recently found out that she’d known for a long time.”  
“Jess didn’t even pick up on Jackson not being Tay,” Zac slid his hands in his pockets.  
“She has baby brain,” Avery eyed the clone who still seemed to be sizing her up, “where’s Tay?”  
Isaac and Zac shared another worried look.  
“Would you believe us if we told you-“  
“Russia,” Jackson cut Isaac off, steadily returning Avery’s look, “he’s in Russia.”  
“Why would he be in Russia?” Avery focused on him.  
“Not of his own free will.”  
“Jack could you give us a moment?” Zac gave him a pointed look.  
“Why? He’s the only one giving me a straight answer!” Avery scolded her brother.  
“The lady has spoken,” Jackson raised a smug brow, “your brother was kidnapped by Russian militia and no one’s figured out why yet but we’re guessing it’s some kind of experimentation thing.”  
For the first time in a while, Avery was lost for words.  
“If it helps, this isn’t exactly the first time,” Carey attempted to reassure her, “all of us were taken just over a year ago. They held us for two months and nothing really happened.”  
“ _How_ would that help? And what do you mean ‘all of you’?!”  
Carey winced, looking to Isaac for help. Avery looked between them in exasperation.  
“How many are there?!” she demanded, a moment before a loud bang was heard from the front door.  
“What the hell was that?” Isaac was glad for the distraction as Zac quickly went to see.  
As soon as they heard footsteps Isaac grabbed Jackson’s arm and shoved him backwards.  
“Go hide down the hall,” he insisted, Jackson not waiting to argue.  
“What is it?” Avery took a step toward the doorway.  
Carey stepped back against the kitchen drawers. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. He recognized the footsteps.  
Within seconds Zac reappeared with his hands raised. There was a moment of confusion before the soldier followed him in, clearly with a gun aimed square at his back.  
“Oh my God!” Avery quickly backed away.  
Isaac took hold of her arm, pulling her behind him. Carey quickly checked over his shoulder that Emma was out of sight.  
“Stay calm,” the thick Russian accent came from behind Zac, “do as we say and the women and children will not be hurt.”  
“You didn’t want me,” Carey was the only one with a direct view of the soldiers eyes while he remained hiding behind Zac, “see?”  
He held up his right hand, showing his three fingers.  
“You said I was damaged. So why are you back?!”  
The soldier paused as more boot steps followed him in. He waited until he had backup before reaching into a pocket. One of the soldiers took Zac by the shoulder and pulled him aside, keeping a gun trained on him at all times.  
From his pocket he’d pulled a folded piece of paper. He looked at it, and looked at Carey.  
“You are not the one we want.”  
Carey frowned in confusion, immediately wondering why they would be after Jackson instead. But when the soldier set the paper down on the counter it wasn’t a picture of a clone.  
It was an enlarged copy of Isaac’s passport photo.  
Isaac could see it from where he was, and he’d frozen.  
“You want Isaac?” Carey instantly tried to stall.  
“Come with us, no one gets hurt,” the soldier promised again, his eyes on Isaac now.  
“Why?” Zac demanded, very wary of the metal against his side, “why do you want him? Isn’t Taylor enough?!”  
Carey’s hand slid down the counter behind him to the cutlery drawer while the soldiers were focused on the Hansons.  
“Come. Now,” their leader used his rifle to indicate for Isaac to step away from Avery.  
A scream was heard from outside making everyone turn their heads.  
“That was Natalie,” Avery’s eyes were wide.  
Carey took advantage of the distraction to grab the first knife he came across and aim. By the time the soldier saw his movement he barely had time to deflect the blade.  
“ZAC DUCK!” Carey knew he’d be the first in danger as he followed the knife and managed to take out the soldier’s legs.  
Zac only had to step back as the soldier watching him darted forward to try and grab Carey. Avery bolted for the back windows, seeing two more soldiers in the yard making sure the kids weren’t going anywhere.  
Carey managed to kick one of the guns out of the way but the soldier who’d been watching Zac fired off a warning shot. It hit the counter which Carey ducked behind, quickly reaching for his wallet.  
“Give me your phone.”  
Zac jumped at the voice behind him. It was Jackson with his hand out expectantly. He was about to hand over the phone when Jackson suddenly shoved him aside as a second shot hit the wall behind them. He pulled Zac back into the corridor with him and ran.  
“Еще один!” one of the soldiers shouted, their eyes now after Jackson.  
“ _Ike!_ ” Carey hissed, catching his attention from the floor.  
Isaac backed over to the counter while the soldiers were distracted. Carey had something small in his hand.  
“Swallow this,” Carey insisted, handing him the small square chip.  
“What is it?” Isaac frowned, unable to concentrate on anything but how to possibly get it down his throat.  
“If they take you Alex will be able to find you,” Carey insisted, “just swallow it, quick!”  
A thud as one of the soldiers hit the wall getting up made Isaac look up again.  
“Ike!”  
“I already have a tracer,” Isaac admitted under his breath.  
“And Tay’s stopped working,” Carey pointed out, “so just do it!”  
Isaac threw the chip into his mouth and worked to swallow it. The adrenaline pumping through him made it hard.  
“You!” the leader set his sights on him as the other followed Jackson and Zac down the hall, “come here!”  
“Resist as long as you can,” Carey was already reaching for his phone, managing to dial Alex’s number while he was still out of sight.  
“You, clone, come out,” he soon heard the soldier command, and a look over his shoulder proved that he was the one being spoken to.  
“Are you gonna shoot me?” Carey’s brow rose, still calling Alex with his other hand.  
“Not if you obey.”  
They could hear a scuffle down the hall which told them the soldier had caught up with Zac and Jackson. But they couldn’t tell who was winning.  
The call finally connected and Carey threw the phone aside before coming out from behind the counter on his knee with his hands raised.  
“Stay where I can see you,” the soldier ordered, before beckoning to Isaac again.  
Isaac took a deep breath before making his way over. He’d quickly decided that he’d rather just go with them than endanger the family any longer. Maybe he’d get lucky and find Taylor on his travels.  
The soldier one-handedly pulled some zip ties from his pocket and once Isaac was in reach spun him around before lowering the gun so he could bind his hands. Carey took the distraction to look out the back window and make sure the women and kids were okay. Avery was still by the door shaking her head at Isaac. He was trying to ignore the look.  
“Let him go.”  
All heads darted to the doorway. Jackson had the second soldier’s weapon aimed toward the remaining Russian. Awkwardly, Isaac was in the way.  
“Or else what?” the soldier had a smirk in his voice as he managed to keep him there, “drop the weapon or I shoot him.”  
“You won’t shoot him mate you need him,” Jackson’s brow rose, “and from what I hear, your boss won’t be too happy if you come home empty handed.”  
“If he dies I have no reason to keep the rest of you alive,” the soldier countered, “his life was never in question.”  
Jackson steadied his breathing, trying to get in a headshot. But the soldier was careful. After a few tense seconds the soldier activated his radio.  
“Kill one of the kids.”  
“NO!” Isaac and Carey simultaneously jumped as Avery went for the door.  
She was stopped as soon as she opened it by a hidden soldier outside.  
“Fine!” Jackson grit his teeth, lowering the gun.  
The soldier raised his again and without warning fired at Jackson. Jackson had been watching for it and managed to duck out of the way, but he hadn’t realized Zac had followed him back to the doorway.  
“ZAC!” Isaac darted forward at the sight of the blood spatter on the wall.  
The soldier grabbed his shirt before he could get far and began to drag him backward toward the front door. Once he was out of sight Carey went for his phone.  
“Alex we need help.”  
“I’m on it.”  
Carey scrambled to his feet and quickly went to check on Zac. Jackson was already applying pressure to the wound in his chest as he struggled to get air in.  
“Where’s the other guy?” Carey was fretting.  
“Broken neck. This one needs an ambulance,” Jackson was all business.  
“Got that?” Carey said into the phone, waiting for Alex’s confirmation.  
When he had it he ran after Isaac. He got to the front door before being shot at and having to shield himself behind the doorway. He saw more soldiers through the window as they rounded themselves up and headed toward two black Hummers. Isaac didn’t have a chance to look back before he was loaded into it.  
Carey pulled the phone from his ear and quickly opened the camera, trying to snap photos of the Hummers before they drove away.  
“Al I just took some pictures can you get them without me sending them to you?”  
“On it. Just stay on the line. Ambulance is on the way but the paramedics want details.”  
Carey waited only a couple of seconds until the Hummers were out of sight before closing the door and heading back in to where Zac was. Avery met him in the kitchen, Emma and Penny behind her.  
“Don’t let anyone in!” Carey ordered, “keep the kids outside!”  
“Why? What happened?” Avery was still pale.  
“Care, is that blood on the wall?” Emma’s expression mirrored Avery’s.  
“Yes. Which is why you need to keep the kids _outside_ ,” Carey emphasized, “there’s an ambulance coming. Get them to wait for it.”  
Emma turned to guard the door.  
“I NEED TOWELS!” they heard Jackson yell out.  
Avery darted forward, finding the scene just inside the walkway.  
“Oh my God Zac-“  
“TOWELS!” Jackson yelled louder, blood now covering his hands.  
Zac was already struggling to stay conscious.  
“I know where there’s towels!” Avery insisted before rushing to get them.  
“Al’s got an ambulance on the way, what do I tell them?” Carey appeared instead.  
“Hopefully that he’s still alive,” Jackson glanced upward, “I don’t know where the bullet is, I just know it’s not his heart or he’d be gone by now.”

The first things he felt were the shivers and the heat. He could feel another oxygen mask over his face, and he could barely make out the edge of the plastic in the blur he saw when he opened his eyes. He could hear murmured voices above him but couldn’t make anything out through the blinding light.  
“His vitals are good. We should be clear to land on schedule,” he heard a Southern accent from above.  
“We’ll pass him off to the medics as soon as we’re on the ground.”  
He was strapped down, but he couldn’t feel anything around his wrists. As soon as he realized this he started trying to feel around for clues on where he was.  
“We just need to keep him stable for the next ten hours. No problem.”  
“Blake?” Taylor was still struggling to clear his eyes.  
But he _knew_ that voice. It had to be him.  
“Shit, he’s conscious. Pass me that sedative quick.”  
Taylor couldn’t reach his face to rub his eyes but he managed to make out two figures above him. They were both moving frantically but he couldn’t see what they were doing.  
“Are you with us Taylor?” the voice came from the one on the left.  
“Blake is that you?” his voice croaked from a dry throat.  
“It is. We’re taking you home. As soon as we get out of Russian air space.”  
Taylor could feel his heart speeding up at the prospect of going home. He couldn’t help but think that this had to be just a hallucination. There was no way this could happen so suddenly.  
“Just take some deep breaths, we need to keep you nice and secure for transport.”  
“Where am I?” he was already feeling drowsy.  
“Deep breaths,” the second voice reiterated, “just go back to sleep.”  
Taylor recognized that voice too, but wasn’t sure where to place it. He could see clearer now but the soldier was keeping his head turned away as he focused on what looked like an IV line.  
“I want to stay awake,” Taylor tried pulling on his arm, “please don’t-“  
“You’ll be fine,” Blake insisted, “trust me, I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”  
Taylor grunted as the sedative took almost immediate effect and he could feel his pulse slowing again.  
“That’s it. Just close your eyes.”  
He looked up again for the last time, into a face that mirrored his own. But the cloud quickly covered his confusion and he couldn’t force himself to stay awake any longer.  
“Close your eyes.”

Walker was pacing as he waited for the call to go through. It took longer than normal for it to be answered.  
“Yes?”  
“Ivan. Walker Hanson.”  
“Dr Hanson this is not a great time. Can I call you back in an hour or so?”  
“This isn’t about Tulsa,” Walker held back rolling his eyes, “this is about your G series.”  
“You found them?”  
“We did. Six still alive. Bodies of the other three were unable to be retrieved. Presumed cremated.”  
“And C1?”  
Walker paused, having to keep his tone steady. He could hear yelling in the background of the call but he wasn’t about to ask about it.  
“Taylor,” he began pointedly, “was also retrieved. Injured but stable. They’re all on a cargo plane on their way back to the States as we speak.”  
“I’m glad to hear that. Have them head for Dallas. We’ll be transferring back there later this week so we may as well get them all settled in for us. The skeleton staff can start their interviews.”  
“I’ll let them know.”  
“Good, good. And now that this mission of yours is over I have a new one for you.”  
“Already?” Walker frowned, “can it wait until Taylor gets home?”  
“I’m sure this will take you a while so you may as well start now. Pass the time until they join us again.”  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“I want you to find C8.”  
Walker paused, working to suppress any reaction.  
“C8?”  
“Yes. You and I both know he’s still out there somewhere. It’s time that we completed the collection, don’t you think?”  
“Do you have any leads?”  
“Nothing substantial. I’ll have someone forward our list of possible sightings to you.”  
“Okay.”  
“Good luck.”  
Morris ended the call before Walker could. Walker set the phone aside and looked toward the window, double checking that no one could see into the room.  
“Where are you now, Bradley?” he asked himself.


End file.
